


Bridges and Windows

by Arken_Stone1



Series: Bridges and Windows [1]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Constantine (2005), Constantine (TV), Lucifer (TV), Sherlock (TV) if you squint
Genre: A Touch of the Horrors, A little bit of Soul, A strong dose of the supernatural, Angel!Lock, Angelology 101, Angst and Feels, Barbequed Wings, Chief In The Order of Virtues, Chloe is a classic mom, Chloe is clever, Chloe is uptight, Chloe rolls with it, Confessions, F/M, Gen, Heightened Reality, Hello Sunnydale!, Honesty, Life is better with Soul, Lucifer walks into a bar, M/M, Maze doesn't do camping, Maze is going to be pissed, Maze is graced, Maze isn't much for camping, Maze thinks Lucifer is an arrogant sod, More than friends but less than lovers, Protective Lucifer, Romantic suspence, Spike is a smokin' hot Midnight Rider, The Big Reveal, The Hellmouth, The difference between angels and demons, The game is on, The mystery takes flight, Trixie gets sassy with Sky Dad, Trixie handles everything like a boss, Trixie is becoming a pint-sized badass, Trixie makes Mazikeen proud with her expanded lexicon, Trust Issues, Urban Fantasy, What is coming next?, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2018-11-07 15:11:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 30,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11061612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arken_Stone1/pseuds/Arken_Stone1
Summary: Sequel to "Where the Winged Ones Are." Lucifer may look like an angel, but don't mistake him for one. He has places to go, people to see, a mystery to solve and a war to stop. It's just another atypical day for Lucifer.





	1. With A Little Help From My Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Lucifer is the property of Neil Gaiman, DC Comics and Fox Television. I write this for love, not for profit and I own nothing.

"Bloody Hell! I feel like I shagged Maze three times over," Lucifer groaned, every muscle in his body ached and stiffened when he tried moving. His throat was sore, feeling as if he'd drank rank Scotch made in someone's bathtub and smoked too many cigarettes. He only felt that way when he did those things around Chloe.

He found that he lay on his left side on a lightly abrasive surface. He felt something hot sticking to his skin and brushed it off. Small, rough particles stuck to his fingertips. Sand?

Every muscle protested as he sat upright and rose to his feet. Lucifer looked around, the light so bright that it nearly blinded him. It was hot and his skin was covered in abrasions, cuts and lacerations. He tried remembering the last thing he'd done before ending up in the middle of nowhere. He felt the pain from skinned knuckles, abrasions along his eye and jaw. Lucifer realized he'd been in a fight with injury possible only when done by another supernatural being or by a mortal when he was near to Chloe. 

He noticed his torso was bare; his shirt gone. He surveyed his surroundings, studying the sandy landscape and recognizing some of the plant life: common saltbush, the occasional creosote bush or a Joshua Tree dotting the landscape. Lucifer saw the low mountains in the distance; the Calico Mountains.

"I'm in the middle of the Sodding Mohave," he swore. "How did I get here?"

When he turned around to survey the landscape, Lucifer felt a tug between his shoulder blades, an evenly distributed weight that unfurled over several feet. It changed his posture and stance so that he moved and stood differently.

Lucifer stretched, flexing what he thought were phantom muscles. He looked to each side of him, seeing desert sun refracting off white wings. His eyes widened, his jaw fell slight slack as he felt divinity on his back in a 17 feet wingspan.

Lucifer looked skyward, sheer confusion mixed with surprise and joy that he hadn't felt in years. "Why?"

No answer came.

"Why this? Why now?" he asked to the sky.

Only silence answered.

Lucifer crouched slightly, gathering power in his legs. With a strong push, he felt his wings move in unison as he shot into the air. He felt a strong undercurrent beneath his wings that lifted him and he gained speed.

"Whoohoo!" he felt triumph as continued upward.

He thought of the alternative. Instead of showing Chloe his true face, he'd show his wings instead. It wasn't a lie; simply another truth. He wanted to move forward, to reunite with his Chloe, to feel her sweet, warm lips upon his and her eyes shine with love for only him. Lucifer wanted to envelop her in his wings and take her on a flight under the stars under a full moon. He wanted to make-

That's when Lucifer lost his concentration, face planting into the desert with a mouthful of sand and sagebrush for his trouble.

"I'll get the hang of it," he said aloud. "I just need to remember how to do it."

After several attempts and rough landings, Lucifer's inner angel remembered how to fly. He flew until he came to Interstate 15, recognizing his route of choice when traveling between LA. and Las Vegas. Whoever accosted him made sure to leave Lucifer without a mobile, shoes or car keys. That was a mystery he intended to solve later, he silently vowed. The most important thing on his mind was the overwhelming urge to get back to L.A and see Chloe.

Lucifer flew in broad daylight above the Interstate, knowing mortals never looked up and were oblivious to what happened above them. 

The wind sifted though his feathers, its warmth lifting him to new heights. Lucifer figured that Chloe was furious with him because he'd called her, saying he wanted to tell her everything. He knew she rarely gave second chances and he yearned for her in a way that he hadn't felt in eons. She was the only being that brought his heart alive and wiped the red from his ledger.

Chloe was his home and he appreciated the renewed, albeit, strained relationship with his brother and his friendship with Linda.

"Bloody Hell," he cursed, abruptly remembering her broken body lying in a hospital bed because she attempted to protect a fallen angel. "Sorry, Chloe, once you know everything, then you'll understand why I'm seeing Linda first."

By car, it would've taken him 3 hours to return to LA. With wings and enjoying a leisurely flight: 90 minutes. It was late afternoon and Lucifer took great joy soaring between the skyscrapers as he headed toward the hospital where Linda lie recovering.

He stopped by his penthouse first on the way, quickly showering to remove the sand and grime from his broken skin which had already started healing. Luckily, he had a secondary mobile for just such an emergency. He knew his Corvette was still at the hospital where he'd last been, grabbing the spare set of keys to retrieve it.

Several minutes later, Lucifer walked down the hospital corridor leading to Linda's room. From the gift shop, he brought a single peach rose and some luxurious chocolate, Linda’s favorite. He could think of no way to repay the debt that he owed her, except one. 

He gently rapped on the door. 

“Come in,” her weak voice responded.

“Oh, hello, Darling,” Lucifer flashed Linda his million dollar smile loaded with extra charm. Carefully, he closed the door behind him. “How are you feeling?”

“Like Hell,” she gave him a tired smile. “You?”

“Fierce and fabulous, Linda!” Lucifer went over to the window, pulling shut the blinds. “You are checking out of the hospital tonight, Luv.”

“Not in my condition,” Linda scoffed. “Ass kicked by a goddess, remember?”

Lucifer sat down on the edge of the bed, his glibness gone. “I wanted to tell you how deeply grateful I am for what you did and endured for me. Words cannot express, Linda, the depth of my gratitude.”

“It was my choice, Lucifer.”

“One that you were forced to make, thanks to my mother,” his anger made his voice deeper and louder. “Do you know the meaning of a peach rose?”

“No,” Linda gave him a smile, shaking her head. “I can’t say that I do.”

He brought the single rose in the Baccarat vase to the table next to her bed. “A single peach rose is for you. It symbolizes deep appreciation and gratitude. This is my way of saying ‘thank you.'”

“If you really want to tell me thank you, Lucifer, pay my hospital bill.”

“Consider it done, I’ll settle the current amount and have all future bills sent to me,” he promised, his face grave.

“Lucifer, you don’t need to do that,” Linda protested. “I have insurance.”

“You won’t need it when I’m done with you,” Lucifer removed his blazer and began unbuttoning his dress shirt.

“Lucifer,” Linda asked slowly. “What are you doing?”

“I gained a bit of something that I wasn’t expecting,” he replied. Once shirtless, a wide grin crossed his features. He made his wings appear, being careful not to unfurl them too far in the small hospital room “These.”

“Are those your-” Linda stopped mid-sentence, mesmerized by the beautiful divinity of his wings.

“Oh, please, don’t go catatonic now!” he quickly plucked a feather from his left wing, laying it on Linda’s abdomen. “Please don’t go insane.”

“They’re just so-” she reached out, giving him a quizzical look. “May I?”

“Yes, of course,” Lucifer immediately agreed, relieve that she retained her sanity. “By all means, touch them if you like.”

Lucifer laid the white, glowing feather over the staples in her stomach where Charlotte had stabbed her. She looked down, giving him a questioning glance. “What are you doing?”

“Watch, Linda, and wait,” Lucifer’s soft response soothed her worry. 

Against the stapled wound, the feather began glowing with a bright, golden light until it was so brilliant that Linda closed her eyes, putting her hand over them to keep from being blinded. She felt every wound and bruise quit aching and a feeling of subtle bliss course through her body. A moment later after the glow subsided, she looked down. Bruises, lacerations and stab wounds were healed without leaving so much as a scar.

“Lucifer, you have your wings,” she whispered in quiet awe.

“Yes, and I can never repay the debt I owe you,” he humbly let his eyes fall to the floor. “But,I thought flowers, luxury chocolate and a good healing would be a good start.”

“Thank you,” she smiled. “Friends help friends, Lucifer.”

“I’m learning, thanks to you, Doctor.”

“What will you do now that you have your wings?” Linda asked.

“I’m going to tell Chloe the truth,” his urgent response pulled at Linda’s heartstrings. “Instead of showing her my face-”

“You’re going to show her your wings,” Linda concluded.

“Correct.”

“Lucifer, she needs to see the good, the bad and the crispy,” Linda replied, stroking the soft feathers beneath her fingertips. “She needs to know everything. Are you ready for her reaction if she responds negatively?”

“Frankly, Linda, that is what worries me.”

TO BE CONTINUED. . . .


	2. Opening the Door

17 feet of feathered divinity remained invisible on Lucifer's back as he took in the beauty of the Los Angeles skyline. Somewhat past dusk, the combination of golden sunset and the neon lights affirmed the City of Angels was his home. He had more here than he had ever dared dream: friends, respect and hope.

He had spoken with the hospital administrator, personally paying every charge on a hefty bill caused by Linda’s injuries. He also called in a favor, having a general contractor repair the damage done to Linda’s office by his mum. They had become closer friends recently since she was the only human who knew his true history and she didn’t care. It gave him hope that Chloe would be equally accepting.

He cranked up the music, listening to his favorite rock song de jour. Happiness swelled within him as he remembered the wind in his hair, hearing it rush by when he topped speeds close to 120 miles per hour.

Still, why had Dear Old Dad given him back his wings? Who knocked him out and how did he end up in the desert?

First, he played the scenario a dozen times in his mind of telling Chloe the truth about him. Would she faint or scream? Would she become catatonic like Linda had or just lose her sanity? Lucifer knew that she was immune to some of his supernatural abilities that affected the mind, but what about his physical appearance? Would he remain in her life or would she reject him? He made a decision to move forward and not look backward. Lucifer chose to take the risk because Chloe was worth it. She deserved to know the truth about him.

He pulled into her driveway, taking several deep breaths to calm himself. Both elated and terrified of what was to come, he hoped that Chloe would accept and understand that he had always been truthful and had never lied to her. Running his fingers through his hair, Lucifer quelled the anxiety growing with him.

He exited the Corvette, making his way to the front porch and knocking soundly on the front door. Dressed in black leather pants and a black halter top, Maze answered the door. She took a bite of an apple that she held in her hand. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

“Maze, is Chloe here?” Lucifer hoped she didn’t hear the urgency the urgency in his voice. 

“Yeah, she’s in the kitchen cooking dinner,” Maze nodded in Chloe’s direction. 

Lucifer strode toward the kitchen, seeing Chloe making grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

“Detective, good evening! Did I make it in time for dinner?”

She cast him a sideways glance, saying nothing, then returned to stirring the soup simmering on the stove.

“Detective,” he started. “I apologize for not getting over here as promised. Someone knocked me unconscious and left me in the middle of the Mohave desert. Before I came over, I went to visit Linda in the hospital.”

“You’ve never heard of a cell phone?” Chloe sniped, flipping a grilled cheese sandwich in the cast iron skillet.

“My mobile was taken, I’m afraid, along with my car keys, shirt and shoes,” he explained. “I didn’t have the Corvette since I’d left it at the hospital where Linda was recuperating and I flew home.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” sarcasm dripping from every word. “You chartered a plane, I supposed?”

“No, I used my wings.”

Maze entered the kitchen as he finished the sentence. “What did you say?”

“I said that I used my wings. Dear Old Dad set me up with a new pair.”

“Tell me you're joking, Lucifer,” Maze pressed.

Chloe gave a dismissive of her hand. “He’s on his usual spiel of ‘I’m the Devil. Blah. Blah. Blah.’ I’m tired of it and I don’t need it anymore.”

Lucifer began unbuttoning his shirt. “Chloe, you may want to step back from the stove.”

Maze cast him a wary glance, “Lucifer, what are you doing?”

Chloe turned in his direction to see him without a shirt. Dark eyes and thick black hair framed his face. Day-old stubble emphasized his strong jawline. His body was lean, toned and muscular, reminding her of Michelangelo's David. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart pounded double time. “Why are you stripping in my kitchen?”

“No more evasiveness, Detective, I want everything between us transparent,” he declared. “Please, Chloe.”

The anger melted from her face with his soft plea. “What are you going to show me?”

“Lucifer,” Maze said. “Don’t do this. You know what happened the last time you showed your true self.’

“I’m not going to show her my face first,” he said as if speaking to a three-year-old. “We start with the wings.”

With a flash of bright light resembling the morning sun, Lucifer’s wings unfurled in the kitchen, almost knocking Chloe on her backside. He motioned to himself up and down, drawing his wings in close and turning slowly about for her to get a full view. “Chloe, these are my wings.”

Chloe stood stock still, eyes wide and mouth hanging opening. Shaking her head in disbelief, she stepped forward. “How did you make them appear? Are you wearing a prosthetic?’

“No,” he said softly. “These are truly my wings.”

“They’re gorgeous,” she murmured in awe, taking a cautious step forward. “Turn around.”

Lucifer obliged. “So, what do you think?”

Chloe tentatively reached out, gingerly touching the apex of where wing and back met. Lucifer shuddered with bliss as the physical sensation of her touch between his shoulder blades sent a wave of strong pleasure through his body. “May I-? I mean, the last time I touched your back, you asked me to stop.”

“Please touch me, Chloe,” he quietly urged her.

She let her fingers trace a path along the top of his wings, feeling the soft texture beneath her fingertips. His wings flexed in response of her touch and the twitched at the sensation. “They’re beautiful.”

“Lucifer, what are you doing?” Maze shook her head in disbelief.

“Softening the blow,” he answered, a sad expression crossing his features. “Chloe,”

“Yes?” she answered, never taking her eyes off of his wingspan

“You need to see everything,” Lucifer gently guided her eyes to meet his. “You know that I’ve never lied to you nor will I ever, right?”

“I know,” Chloe nodded, smiling tenderly toward him.

“I have to show you the rest of me,” he took a deep breath. “Please remember that I. . . care for you deeply and I have never meant you any harm.”

“I know that,” Chloe replied, still staring at the divine white wings.

“Lucifer,” Maze said, her voice tight. “Don’t do this. You’ll ruin everything. This isn’t just about you. This affects me, too.”

Lucifer furled his wings inward, letting his eye blaze red. He watched Chloe’s eyes widen, letting his glamour fall and stood before her before vulnerable and bare. The heavy silence laced the air with fear and denial as he and Chloe simply stared at one another. Chloe saw red muscle exposed to the open air as if Lucifer had been skinned alive, his bones sharply contoured covered by the moist tissue. Charred skin covered his neck and parts of his bald scalp.

She stared, paralyzed and terrified.

“Detective?” Lucifer called out softly, closing his eyes at the motionless woman frozen in place.

He and Maze looked at each other. “This is what happened to Linda. Maze, what do I do?”

“What you should’ve done,” she growled. “You should’ve listened to me. Humans go insane when they see the divine. They sure, as hell, can’t handle the profane.”

“I thought if I showed her my wings first-” he gave a helpless shrug. “I mean, Maze, the Detective is immune to my charms. I thought she might handle it well.”

“Well, as usual, you thought only of yourself and you didn’t think things through!” Maze scowled at him. “If Chloe is left a vegetable, I swear to Unholy Hell that I will hunt you down and disembowel you. Slowly.”

“Careful, Maze,” Lucifer’s eyes glowed in warning. “I don’t care for your threats.”

“Who said I made a threat?” she seethed, stepping close so that their noses almost touched. “I made a promise.”

Both heard a large gasp and turned in unison to see Chloe trembling violently, staring at them. “What are you?”

“I’m your friend, Detective, as I’ve always been.”

“What. Are. You?” Chloe yelled, her voice echoing off the condo walls.

Lucifer sighed, holding his arms open. “I’m the Devil. I wanted to tell you the truth and have honesty between us, Chloe. I can’t bear to lose you again.”

“You’re the Devil, but your wings...”Chloe looked at him and then at Maze. “Are you truly a demon?”

“I’m your roommate, Decker,” Maze shrugged, rolling her eyes. “I pay half the rent, remember?”

Chloe closed her eyes, nodding once and taking slow, deep breaths while she clenched her hands together. She felt her heart palpitating and the urge to run away screaming. Cognitively knowing something was far different that directly experiencing it. She remembered Josh’s words as he told what would come with her choice, “Your love is his redemption. If you choose to be brave and stand with him at his side, he will change for you and because of you. You don’t know everything, Chloe, and there are things that you’ll learn about that will terrify you.”

“I think I need sit down,” Chloe slowly made her way to the sofa, turning to look at Lucifer who appeared red and raw. “Are you in pain?”

Lucifer scoffed, “You went catatonic and you’re inquiring if I’m all right?”

“Does...it hurt?” Chloe asked. A glimmer surrounded him. “No! Don’t change back. Stay like you are.”

Lucifer and Maze cast confused looks at one another. “May I sit?”

“Please,” Chloe said slowly. “You always told me who you really were and I saw some things that I couldn’t explain when you were around, but I thought it was eccentricity you had.”

“She’s gonna be fine,” Maze took a bit of her apple. “Hey, Decker, where’s the dipping caramel?”

“Fridge,” she said, never taking her eyes of Lucifer. “I’m sorry, Lucifer, this is a lot to take in. You can understand that I’m having trouble processing this and this will take time.”

TO BE CONTINUED…….


	3. The Bridges We Cross

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honesty goes both ways and it can burn or build bridges.

Chloe sat across from the red, scarred creature with the beatific wings. She looked over, laughing at the absurdity of a demon raiding the fridge and the God had been her handyman. When she’d seen Lucifer’s wings, entranced by their unearthly beauty. When Chloe saw the rest of him, everything she didn’t want to believe immediately turned into a harsh reality. She felt her mind wanting to descend it catatonia and denial; a way of protecting itself.

Then, Josh’s words echoed in her mind; they tethered her to her inner strength, keeping Chloe attached to reality and the truth. Forced to return to reality, Chloe remembered that reality is a matter of knowing the facts. She had made the choice to accept this new world and naked truth as it had been revealed over time along with her role in it. Still, she hadn’t been prepared for the psychological trauma threatening to overwhelm her of seeing Lucifer looking like a burn victim or an escapee from some torturer’s dungeon.

Hell.

“Josh, how could you have sent him there?’ she asked silently.

‘Chloe, I didn’t do this to him, this is his own making,’ came that familiar Western drawl inside her mind. ‘Just because somethin’ looks a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the truth. Sometimes, what we see is just a perception of our own making. This is what Lucifer sees because he thinks he’s turned into a monster.’

Chloe leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and steepling her hands in contemplation. She continued staring at Lucifer, his red eyes intently staring back. She saw heartbreak, anxiety, rejection in his features and she tried to look past the image to the essence of the person beneath. She closed her eyes. “Talk to me, Lucifer,”

“I beg your pardon?” he asked.

“Talk to me and don’t change back,” Chloe asked. “Tell me why you showed me this now.”

“I wanted to show you everything and be completely honest with you,” Lucifer’s quiet baritone and lilting brogue soothed Chloe’s frightened mind a little. “I’ve never lied to you, Chloe, nor will I ever lie to you. I want us to move forward with absolute truth and this was the only way I could think of to do it.”

She nodded, eyes still closed. “Keep talking, Lucifer, about anything.”

He and Maze gave each other quizzical looks, but he continued. “You are truly good and worthy of grace which is more than I can ever give you, but I am drawn to you and can’t walk away. Dear Old Dad made sure of that.”

Chloe slowly opened her eyes, looking at the person sitting in front of her. He wasn’t a creature or a monster nor was he Satan. He was Lucifer Morningstar: arrogant, conceited and irritating ass who made her a better detective. He was a persuasive charmer who always had her back. He was walking sex on two legs that fucked anything that moved, but he’d shared emotional intimacy with her instead when she didn’t think him capable of it. She remembered the time he held her after the kind words he’d said about her father being proud of her. She remembered how they shared hamburgers and fries without the ketchup and how he’d risked his life several times while risking his own.

He was just Lucifer, her partner, best friend and he had captured her heart. She furrowed her eyes in silent question, ‘How can I accept Lucifer like this so quickly?’ Chloe wondered if had to do with her miracle child status. Chloe simply stared at him, taking in the sight of charred skin on his neck and scalp, the red tissue that looked like exposed muscles and the deep wrinkles and scars that gave his skin such a tortured appearance. She leaned forward, taking his hands in his. She felt the scars, but the burned skin didn’t feel wet or bloody.

“It’ll take some time to get used to this,” Chloe admitted. “It’s a lot to take in.”

The air hung heavy with anticipation. She watched as the glamour instantly appeared, the familiar brunette charmer sitting before, looking completely human. “Have I lost you, Chloe?”

“The mask or what I see right now,” Chloe started. “is this just an illusion?”

“This is how I looked before I fell,” Lucifer said.

“So, the red version of yourself occurred as a result of the fall?”

“The Fall occurred rather quickly,” he explained.

“How come your wings weren’t burnt?” Chloe asked.

That stopped Lucifer from answering. She had a point which he had never considered, why hadn’t his wings been burnt? Daddy Meanest had a cruel sense of humor allowing Lucifer to become scarred as a result of his rebellion while leaving his wings untouched. “I don’t know.”

“And Maze is truly a demon?” Chloe nodded toward her.

“Indeed,” Lucifer flashed her a charming smile. “Show her, Maze.”

“No.”

“Maze,” he said in a warning tone.

“No, Lucifer, I don’t need to see,” Chloe turned to her roommate. “You’re my friend, you don’t steal my clothes, you like Trixie and you pay your half of the rent on time. So, if you look like him, I really don’t care.”

“Detective,” Lucifer’s face gave her a questioning look. “You’re taking all of this rather well. How can that be?”

Chloe turned to Maze, seeing her eyes widen and her shaking her head with an emphatic “No.” Chloe remained undecided. She decided to ask other questions first. “Who else knows?”

“Dr. Linda,” he said.

“Why did you show her, but not me?” A little hurt laced Chloe’s words. 

“When I showed Linda, it left her catatonic for several hours and it her a week to recover,” Lucifer explained. “Humans can’t handle the divine because it drives them insane. When people see me-”

Chloe thought of how many times she’d come upon suspects cowering, whimpering and begging to be taken to jail in Lucifer’s presence. “They have a psychotic break.”

“Precisely,” he sighed.

“So, you thought the same would happen to me?”

“Yes,” his eyes were brighter than usual.

“I get that,” she assured him, nodding her head. “Hmm..”

“What?”

“Lucifer, we have to lay down some ground rules,” Chloe said, going to the refrigerator to pour herself a glass of tea. “First, no more frightening our clients just because you can.”

“But, Detective!”

“Save it for the ones who really need it,” she gave him a slight smile.

“Detective,” Lucifer smiled, pleasantly surprised by that spark of mischief he saw in her eyes.

“Secondly, never show Trixie.”

“Of course!” Lucifer nodded in eager agreement.

“Now, I have a question.”

“Anything you want to know, Detective.”

“After what you just shared, you can call me Chloe, you know.”

“Yes, Chloe,” his soft response and the relief in his eyes softened her.

“Sometime, would you take me for a flight?”

“Anytime you wish!”

Chloe sipped her tea while trying to decide what came next. “I have a truth or two I need to reveal.”

Maze gave her look as though Chloe were insane. “Decker, shut up!”

“No, honesty goes both ways,” Chloe answered. “Lucifer, you may want to keep sitting.”

“Of course, what is it?”

“Do you remember when I was bleeding,” Chloe began. “After I’d been poisoned, you walked into the bathroom and asked me if I knew?”

“Yes,” he drawled slowly, giving her a wary glance.

“I didn’t then, honestly,” she admitted. “I had the sample of your blood tested and it came up AB negative.”

“Naturally,” Lucifer’s posture relaxed. “All angels, fallen or otherwise, have that blood type.”

“There’s more. Some of your blood got into my system. I think from when you were shot at the warehouse last summer,” Chloe continued, sipping her tea. “It changed me, giving me abilities that I didn’t have previously.”

“Bloody Hell!” Lucifer exclaimed. “How did you remain sane and not go postal?”

“Well,” Chloe coughed. “I ate some fig cookies.”

“I don’t understand,” Lucifer stopped mid-sentence.

“I know that I was put in your path,” Chloe continued as realization came upon Lucifer. “I was a Miracle Child that Josh -er, God, put in your path. I asked Him many questions such as if these feelings that I have for you are real.”

Lucifer gasped. He gulped. “Are they?”

“They happened on their own. They’re the real thing and not because of some preordained plan.”

“And now?” he asked, leaning forward. “Do you still have . . .those feelings?”

“Do you?” she asked.

“Oh, Chloe,” his voice softened as he brought her hand to his lips, planting a tender kiss on the sensitive flesh of her palm. “yes.”

She drew her hand away from him and his brow creased in question. “God visited me starting with a near-death experience and later became my general contractor.”

“So, now you’re a believer on Dad’s side?” he rose to his feet.

“I’ve always been on your side,” she assured him. “He still loves you Lucifer and He’s sorry.”

“And you’re his damned messenger?”

“I’m not His anything but his child!”

“So you’re one of His now, are you?” Lucifer’s eyes flared, making Chloe flinch.

“Let’s just say I know there’s something, Someone, out there and I’ve changed my mind on some things,” Chloe sipped her tea. “You said absolute honestly, Lucifer. You gave it and I gave it.”

“Well,” Lucifer huffed, reaching for his shirt as his wings folded inward then vanished “I appreciate your honesty.”

“Lucifer,” Maze stepped between them. “I hate to break up this little honesty fest, but don’t you want to know how you got your wings back?”

“Yes, I do,” Lucifer agreed. “Chloe, I do seem to have quite the mystery on my hands. You know that I had Maze cut them off when I first arrived. You saw the scars.”

“Yes,” Chloe nodded.

“Well, now, I have these back. I was at the hospital last night after I visited Linda, I left you a voicemail. The next thing I know, I have a sodding lump the size of a goose egg on the back of my skull and wings intact. I want to know who hit me on the head, took me to the desert, gave me back my wings and why. Will you help me, Detective?”

“It sounds like we have a case to solve,” Chloe replied. “We’d better get started.”

To Be Continued….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bridges and Windows is a sequel to "Where the Winged Ones Are."


	4. If the Halo fits, Wing It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lucifer Morningstar regained his wings, he knew something was amiss. Now, with his partner, Detective Chloe Decker, they must solve the mystery of who gave him his wings and why. Can Lucifer and Chloe find the answers to these questions before the trail grows cold?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: All the characters appearing in Lucifer: are copyright Fox TV/ Vertigo Comics, DC Comics and Neil Gaiman. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Arken_Stone1.
> 
> Note: No angels, trees or detectives were harmed in the making of this fanfiction.

“What?” Lucifer exclaimed. “Now?”

“The longer we wait, the more the trail goes cold,” Chloe grabbed a pen and paper. “It’s already cold because this happened how long ago?”

“Earlier today,” Lucifer made his feathers disappear so that he looked his his rather dapper human self. “Noonish, maybe.”

“Start from the beginning. Tell me everything that happened.”

A few minutes later, Chloe understood the basics. Lucifer had left the hospital after visiting Linda, someone hit him on the head from behind, knocking him unconscious. Then, he awoke midday in the middle of the Mohave Desert not far from Interstate 15 near Yermo, California. His skin suffered abrasions and lacerations, along with a bad dose of sunburn.

“You told me once that only an angel can hurt another angel,” she tapped her pen against the pad. “Right?”

“Precisely,” Lucifer smiled, amazed how well Chloe assimilated to his world. He still thought that she might be in shock and when the reality finally dawned, she’d have nothing more to do with him.

“Can anybody else hurt you?” Chloe asked. “Or make you vulnerable, besides me?”

“A demon could,” Maze sat down at the table with a large bowl of Kettle popcorn, munching away while listening. 

“Are there any demons on Earth besides you?” Chloe turned toward Maze, grabbing a hand full of popcorn and tossing a few pieces into her mouth.

“None of them know how to get out of Hell,” Maze answered. “None can get out. Before we left, Lucifer locked the gates of Hell and gave Amenadiel the key.”

“There are two key suspects,” Chloe popped a few more pieces of popcorn into her mouth. “Charlotte?”

“She’s. . .gone,” Lucifer said. “My mother no longer inhabits the body of Charlotte Richards.”

“Amenadiel?” Chloe asked.

“Nuh-uh,” Maze spoke with her mouth full. “He was with me last night.”

Chloe held up her hand. “Don’t need details, Maze, but were you both here?”

“No, his place.”

“How does he have money for an apartment?” Chloe asked, sidetracked by that tidbit of information.

“He moonlights as a psychiatrist,” Maze shrugged, wiping a stray piece of popcorn from the side of her mouth. “It’s his gig and he thinks he can still help people.”

“Was he with you all night?” Chloe popped a few more kernels into her mouth.

“Yeah, Decker, he was.” Maze gave her an annoyed glance. “He and Lucifer are on good terms right now, so he wouldn’t do this.”

“Could there be other angels on Earth?” Chloe looked at Lucifer.

“It’s a possibility,” Lucifer said slowly. “but, I’d know.”

“Okay, would it be a regular angel or an archangel?” Chloe asked.

“How the bloody Hell would I know, Detective?” Lucifer’s accent grew thicker with his impatience. “I’m the Devil, not a Jedi.”

Chloe made a circular motion with her finger. “Turn around. I want to see the lump where you were hit.”

“How can that possibly help?” Lucifer’s gave a questioning gaze, but did as she requested.

“Show me where you were hit,” Chloe repeated.

“Here, at the base of my skull,” Lucifer’s fingers touched the back of his head. “just above where my skull meets my neck.”

Chloe stood on tiptoes, running her fingers through Lucifer’s thick black hair until she found the lump which was about the circumference of a golf ball.

“Careful,” Lucifer exclaimed. “that bloody hurts!”

“Based upon where you were hit,” Chloe studied the lump. “this was a swing straight across. The lump would be bigger on the top if the perp were swinging down or bigger at the bottom if swinging upwards. Since it looks like a straight arc that hit you, then your attacker was about your height.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes skyward. “I’m not letting you watch anymore of the ass’s blog, the Study of Seduction.”

“He has the came job you do,” Chloe countered. “His powers of observation are extraordinary and I’ve learned a lot by watching him and reading his blogger’s accounts of their various cases. I’ve learned to look at things differently by reading and listening to those two.”

“Yeah, he’s kinda hot with that dark curly hair,” Maze mused. “And those cheekbones! They’re as sharp as my hellblades.”

“Ladies, if you would please quite done having orgasms over Sherlock Holmes, I think what happened to me is much more important,” Lucifer scoffed. “So, who would do this? Who could do this?”

“What?” Maze smirked. “Jealous, Lucifer?”

“What, of that arrogant sod?” Lucifer straightened the sleeve of his tailored jacket. “Hardly.”

“Well, you two have very similar jobs,” Chloe winked at Maze. “He’s a consulting detective while you’re a civilian consultant.”

“Don’t compare me to that ponce.” the Devil snorted. “Can we please stay on task rather than swooning about the palest man in Britain?”

“We need to go back to where this all started,” Chloe said, looking at her watch. “I don’t have anyone to watch Dan.”

“Call Detective Douche,” Lucifer said with a look of disdain on his face. 

“He’s out of town with his new girlfriend,” Chloe replied. She looked at Lucifer. “Amenadiel, is he really your brother?”

“Yes,” he gave a sad smile. “Unfortunately.”

“Is he. . .evil?” 

“Evil no, fallen yes, but now he’s back on the good little soldier kick, right down to the self-righteousness and excessive guilt,” Lucifer rolled his eyes.

“What’s he doing right now? Anybody know?” Chloe asked.

“He’s probably at home tonight,” Maze answered, he face scrunched into a look of disgust. “he was going to do a Twilight marathon.”

“Is he reliable?” Chloe asked.

“Like sunshine,” Lucifer’s sarcasm caused Maze to snicker. “Pompous occasionally, horrendously uptight-”

“You got that right,” Maze chuckled in agreement, popping more popcorn into her mouth. “but, we’re working on that.”

“But, utterly trustworthy and dependable, Detective,” Lucifer’s voice lost its sardonic tone and his demeanor became serious. “There is no one better to have by your side in battle.”

“Hmm,” Chloe nodded. “Think he’d be willing to babysit Trixie for a few hours?”

******************

 

Within the hour, Amenadiel arrived with several DVDs in hand. Chloe snuck a peak at the titles: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn Parts One and Two. She employed Sherlock’s logic that she found helpful. Amenadiel liked mixed drinks and watched Twilight, ergo, he was a closet romantic. When he came into the duplex and he looked at Maze, Chloe’s suspicions were confirmed: he was head over heals in love with Mazikeen Smith. For a moment, she pondered the improbable possibility of a demon and an angel falling in love with each other. Could it happen? Would Josh allow it? She didn’t say anything as she studied Maze’s reaction to Amenadiel. While Maze tried to shirk him off, her body language said she was very interested in Mr. Tall, Dark and Angelically Handsome. Once she solved this case, Chloe planned on playing Cupid.

Lucifer informed his brother of what was going on. Amenadiel shook his head in disbelief. “Luci, I haven’t sensed any of our family here since Mom left. Trust me, I’d know.”

“I know you would, Brother,” Lucifer clasped him on the shoulder. “A bit of advice about the small spawn, she likes bedtimes stories: the bloodier, the better.”

“I’m not going to tell a human child horror stories,” Amenadiel huffed. 

“Trust me,” Chloe agreed with Lucifer. “It’s true.”

“Mommy,” Trixie called from her bedroom doorway. “Who’s here?”

“Lucifer, Monkey, and his brother, Amenadiel.”

Trixie darted across the living room until she nearly tackled her favorite Devil. Wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly, she looked upward with a large grin on her face. “Lucifer!”

“Uh,” Lucifer squirmed, pleading silently with Chloe for help. “Hello, small child.”

“Are you having a sleepover with Mommy again?” Chloe asked.

Amendiel gave his brother a stern stare.

“No, Beatrice,” Lucifer carefully unwrapped her arms from around his waist. “But, your mother and I have a mystery to investigate.”

“Maze, will you stay?” Trixie asked.

She gave Lucifer and Chloe a look that Chloe couldn’t interpret. Maze was a skilled Bounty Hunter capable of tracking anything that walked, talked or breathed. If anyone could heat up a cold trail, it was her roommate. Chloe looked to Lucifer, whose smug smirk had melted into a gentler look when he saw his brother’s hopeful expression.

“Detective, I think we can handle this with only us two, don’t you?” he said loudly.

Subtlety wasn’t his strong suit, Chloe concluded, not missing the obvious hint. “Maze, we got this.”

Maze’s expression of ambivalence softened minutely. Her voice was quiet, “Thanks, Decker. Don’t worry, we’ll behave. We’ll take good care of the kid. Promise.”

“I know,” Chloe smiled.

“You brought Twilight!” Trixie squealed with delight, seeing the pile of DVDs on the coffee table.  
“I remember when you came to see my mom in the hospital.”

“It’s good to see you again, Trixie,” Amenadiel’s deep voice sounded warm and sincere. “Do you like the Twilight Movies?”

“Do I ever!” Trixie exclaimed. “Can we watch them, please?”

“Kid, it’s past your bedtime,” Maze said gruffly. “Decker, can she stay up and watch it?”

Chloe pursed her lips in contemplation. “Well, it’s a weekend night, so it’s okay.”

“Thanks, Mommy! You’re the best.”

Trixie bounced over to the sofa as Amenadiel put in the Twilight DVD. Maze brought over the large bowl of Kettle Corn and sat on Trixie's other side. She let her resting bitch façade drop when she smiled at her favorite angel, “Do you like kettle corn?”

“I’ve never had it,” Amenadiel admitted. He held up a bottle of soda. “I brought something for all of us to drink.”

“Detective, I think it’s best we get going before the trail grows any colder,” Lucifer gently wrested Chloe from her reverie regarding the comforting domesticity of the scene before her. 

“Uh, sure,” she snapped out of it. Grabbing her shoulder holster, she packed her sidearm. She gave Lucifer a shy glance. “Could I ask a question?”

“Ask me anything, Chloe,” he replied softly, giving her a gentle smile.

“Could we fly?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” his smile became a boyish grin. When he swept Chloe into his arms, she squawked in surprise. She heard the wind rush as Lucifer spread his wings to their full span, feeling the raw strength his body possessed as his pushed with his legs and let his wings catch a good wind current.

Within a few minutes, they were high above the Los Angeles skyline with a warm spring breeze gently blowing in the night. Chloe felt her heart’s rhythm speed up by several beats per minute as Lucifer held her close to his chest. She felt his warmth and inhaled the scent of his favorite designer cologne. She let her head fall slightly to the side and found that Lucifer’s brow now touched hers.

“Chloe,” he coughed, awkwardly clearing his throat. “I know I hurt you when I simply left...”

“Why did you leave?” 

“I thought that what we were feeling wasn’t real and I didn’t know how else to protect you from, well, me,” he gave a slight shrug.

“Trust me, it’s real,” she confirmed. “But, Lucifer, you broke my heart when you left. I thought we had the start of something wonderful.”

“We did and I destroyed it,” Lucifer gave a heavy sigh. Suddenly, they were both blown backward. “Updraft.”

“I didn’t see that coming.”

“Chloe, could we try again? I won’t leave or fail you ever again,” Lucifer began.

“Don’t make promises you may not be able to keep,” she pressed a finger to his lips. “Let’s start with this: we’ve admitted that we both feel something for each other. Are you frightened by it?”

“Petrified,” he said.

“So am I,” Chloe agreed. “So, we’ll start out with an old-fashioned date. No sex!”

“Detective, isn’t there any way I can change your mind?” Lucifer’s charm nearly befuddled Chloe.

“Right now, let’s get to Mercy General and look at the grounds,” she said, the romantic moment taking a more serious tone.

“Agreed,” he deftly landed, placing Chloe on her feet several yards from the hospital’s doors. “This is where I was when I was hit from behind.”

“You said that you woke up without your shirt, your keys or your cell phone,” Chloe recounted, looking at the ground. “Let’s take a look.”

The streetlights provided excellent light as she scoured the scene. It’d been 24 hours since Lucifer had been at the hospital and she thought any chance of clues might be gone. In the grass near the pavement, she found a cell phone and a few feet away, a set of keys. “Lucifer!”

“Yes, Chloe?”

“You’ll want these,” she handed the keys and cell phone to her partner. “They were in the grass. I’m surprised no one picked them up.”

“Humans are notoriously obtuse, Detective, with a few exceptions, of course,” he nodded in her direction.

“Nice save.”

They spent the next hour walking around with Chloe’s flashlight in hand. Standing under a mature sycamore tree, Chloe shook her head in discouragement. Not a thing in the area gave her any information to fit the pieces together. She looked skyward. “A little help, please?”

She saw Lucifer soaring above her, looking for clues from an aerial point of view. Then a bright flash of white in her peripheral vision caught her attention. Looking upward, she saw a white something stuck between two small outer branches of the sycamore. “Lucifer, I think I found something.”

She went to the tree, hoisting herself up to the first branch, then the second and third until she was nearly twenty feet above the ground. Leaning out and not looking down, Chloe put her weight on the branch where the white object with a subtle golden glint was lodged between outgrowths from it. She shook the branch, hearing the leaves rustle. Still stuck, she started shaking the branch harder until the white object fell loose of the branches and landed below in the grass.

Chloe started down the tree when she lost her footing. As she fell, she saw white streak fly in fast and low, catching her ten feet from the ground. “Detective, you really must be more careful.”

Lucifer again placed her gently on her feet. He heard the barely contained excitement in her voice. “I think we have a clue.”

She knelt down, picking up the white object. Larger than any feather she’d seen, she looked at Lucifer. “Is this one of your feathers?”

Lucifer’s brow knitted in curiosity as he took the feather in hand, scrutinizing it from every angle. “No, this isn’t mine. My wings are entirely white and glow when their power is invoked. This feather is tinged with gold on the ends and there is only one angel I know with wings like that.”

“Who, Lucifer?”

“My brother,” he said grimly. “Michael.”

“Why would your brother, Michael, be on Earth and why would he knock you unconscious?” Chloe asked. 

“I know it doesn’t make any sense, Detective,” Lucifer shook his head. “He rather enjoyed his posh status as one of Dad’s faithful minions. He never liked the fact that I was dad’s favorite.”

“How do we find him?”

“Angels usually aren’t detectable by human standards.” 

“Can we summon him?” Chloe asked.

“He’s an archangel, not a genie,” Lucifer scoffed. “However, now that dear old Dad has seen fit to encumber me with these wings, I might as well make use of them.”

“Go ahead,” Chloe took a step back. “Have at it. This is something that I want to see.”

“Not here,” he offered his hand to her. "People are oblivious, but not every single person. Let’s find someplace more secluded.”

“You’re right,” stared at Lucifer who looked too damned good in personally tailored trousers and blazer, wearing her favorite plum-hued shirt. He looked every inch the suave nightclub owner she knew. Stepping forward, she carefully wrapped her arms around his neck and he scooped her off the ground. Wings appeared, unfurling to their full extent and soon they were airborne. “You know, I could get really used to this.”

“You will,” Lucifer promised. “I’m counting on it.”

He took them across the sky of Los Angeles until they landed on the rooftop of Lux. Placing Chloe gently on her feet, he stole a quick kiss. 

Chloe felt warm lips chastely brush against hers, but her feelings were far from chaste. She felt the warm tip of Lucifer’s tongue gently brush along her bottom lip, silently asking for an invitation. Hearing Chloe’s purr of enjoyment, Lucifer deepened the kiss, pulling her closer into his embrace until she was pressed against every inch of him from his chest to his groin with her thighs against his. What she didn’t expect were his glorious white wings embracing her as well. Her breath caught as the subtly textured feathers tickled her check.

“Oh, Chloe,” he groaned.

“Don’t stop,” she murmured against his mouth. "Enjoy the moment."

Several minutes later, still entwined and letting hands roam. Lucifer reluctantly pulled away from Chloe's kiss.

“We have a mystery to solve,” regret lay heavy in his voice as he reluctantly pulled away from his Detective. “I want to know why I have these bloody wings again.”

“I hope you won’t get rid of them,” Chloe reached out, gently stroking the feathers. “They’re gorgeous.” 

“For you, Chloe, I’ll keep them this time,” he promised. With that, she stepped out of his embrace and watched him step back several steps. Slowly, Lucifer closed his eyes, extending his wings to their full span and bring his hands together.

Chloe wondered if he was praying. 

She heard a clap of thunder that startled her. Standing between them was a tall figure with outstretched wings, pristine white with the ends shining with pure gold. She gasped at the unearthly beauty of them, unable to move or speak. She watched as the angel drew them in and then disappeared in a flash of light.

Dressed in a white kilt trimmed in emeralds, his shins were covered in emerald-hued greaves adorned in gold. Chloe recognized them as armor that protected shins in battle. With silver-blue eyes and flowing blonde hair, so straight that it fell past his shoulders, the angel reminded Chloe of a flawless Nordic god that she'd seen in the movies. Chloe knew that good looks ran in Lucifer’s family, but damn! He was easy on her eyes.

“Samael,” the angel greeted Lucifer and gave a single nod.

“Michael,” Lucifer addressed him return.

“I heard your summons, Brother,” the archangel answered with a slight inhuman reverberation in his voice. “Why have you need on me?”

“What are you doing on Earth?” Lucifer didn’t waste time with idle chit chat. “And why did Dad give me back these bloody wings?”

“Father had nothing to do with your getting back your wings, Samael,” Michael gave him a knowing smile.

“Then who, brother?”

“Me.”

"Bloody Hell!"

TO BE CONTINUED……..


	5. Smoke, Sex and Sin With A Little Bit of Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The answers Michael gave Lucifer and Chloe are far from the ones either expected.

Dressed in a white kilt trimmed in emeralds, his shins were covered in emerald-hued greaves adorned in gold, armor specifically made to protect them in battle. With silver-blue eyes and flowing blonde hair, so straight that it fell past his shoulders, the angel reminded Chloe of a flawless Nordic god that she'd seen in the movies. Chloe knew that good looks ran in Lucifer’s family, but damn! He was easy on her eyes.

“Samael,” the angel greeted Lucifer and gave a single nod.

“Michael,” Lucifer addressed him return.

“I heard your summons, Brother,” the archangel answered with a slight inhuman reverberation in his voice. “Why have you called me?”

“What are you doing on Earth?” Lucifer didn’t waste time with idle chit chat. “And why did Dad give me back these bloody wings?”

“Father had nothing to do with your getting back your wings, Samael,” Michael gave him a knowing smile.

“Then who, Brother?”

“Me.”

"Bloody Hell!" Lucifer spat, his eyes flaming crimson. “I don’t want them. Take them back.”

“I can’t, Brother,” Michael’s peaceful demeanor didn’t stall the red gleam in Lucifer’s eyes. “whether you like it or not, they have been returned to you.”

“Why?” Lucifer’s emotions seethed below him barely controlled temper. “I don’t play by those rules anymore.”

“No, you don’t,” Michael nodded in an agreement. “and that is why they’ve been renewed.”

“I don’t want them,” Lucifer said through gritted teeth.

“Not even for Chloe?” Michael asked, nodding toward the Detective. “In your wings are the power of divinity, within your wings are the sacred and the sublime, every feather carries the essence of holiness and allows you to protect your, “Michael cleared his throat, pausing for a moment "partner.”

“You never answered my question,” This time it was the charred and burnt Lord of Hell who pressed the question. “Why did you do this to me?”

“You aren’t as you once were,” Michael remained unphased by Lucifer’s horrific transformation.

Chloe saw that Michael wouldn’t budge and Lucifer wouldn’t hold his temper. “You’re Michael the Archangel, right?”

“Yes, I am,” he turned toward Chloe. “I get to finally meet you in person.”

“So, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” she asked.

“Neither,” Michael answered. “It is merely an observation.”

Chloe stepped forward, carefully studying Michael. He was an inch or two taller that Lucifer and he was as beautiful and fair as much as Lucifer was smoke, sex and sin wrapped up in tailored trousers. “First question, you don’t look down on Humanity as apes who stole you away from your Dad, do you?”

“No, I think Humanity as my Brothers and sisters,” Michael assured her. “You’ve seen the movie, Prophesy, haven’t you?”

“Once or twice,” she admitted. "It's one of my favorite movies."

“I assure you, we aren’t how we’re portrayed in the movies,” Michael smirked. "Though I must admit, Christopher Walken gave a phenomenal performance as Gabriel."

“I figured as much,” Chloe felt her heart skip a beat, finding it hard to concentrate. To counter the memorizing effect Michael had on her, she turned her head back to Lucifer, crimson skin and red eyes peering at with an unnamable emotion reflecting in them. When her eyes met Lucifer, his visage a mixture of anguish, heartbreak, rage and bewilderment. It cleared her mind enough to return her attention to the Archangel. “Why did you knock Lucifer unconscious?”

“Well, he certainly wouldn’t willingly let me regenerate his wings,” Michael chuckled. “As you can see, he is as stubborn as he is prideful.”

“What about the lacerations and burns on his body?” Chloe pressed, embracing her inner Detective with enthusiasm. “How did he get those?”

“We. . .” he paused, folding his wings into his back until they disappeared. He remained silent for a few seconds. “tussled.”

“Fought,” Chloe retorted.

She realized Michael was an angel who chose his words and actions carefully; very much a sequential thinker. “He was a most formidable adversary in battle.”

“He kicked your ass,” Chloe interpreted bluntly. 

“Crudely put, but essentially correct,” Michael started studying the ground at that point. “But I gave as much as I received. The burns are from us tumbling on the ground after doing aerial battle. When we landed, it was with such speed it ripped the skin off his body. However, I managed to accomplish what I’d intended to do. He attacked me mid-flight and I hit him and he spiraled.”

“Face planted in the Middle of the Mohave,” Chloe concluded, feeling unfamiliar anger towards the archangel. “Why couldn't he remember anything?"

"I gave him a concussion, Ms. Decker," Michael said with pride, obviously quite pleased that he had bested his brother.

"You left him alone, you son-of-a-" Chloe stepped forward.

"Chloe, please," Lucifer laid a hand on her shoulder. "Don't. It's not worth it."

“As you can see, Ms. Decker,” Michael motioned toward his elder Brother. “He’s no worse for wear.”

“Why did you give him back his wings?”

“He earned them,” Michael said.

“He what?” Chloe asked, confused by the answer she found odd.

“He earned them.”

“I’m not a bloody Eagle Scout,” Lucifer found his voice, calm enough to look like the man Chloe knew. “An angel doesn’t earn his wings.”

“You have committed countless selfless acts, Brother,” Michael’s voice remained serene. “You began traveling a different path when you resurrected Chloe from the dead after she was shot. You thought of her well-being when you refused to take advantage of her when she was drunk. You sacrificed your life for her, praying to Father to protect her in exchange for doing whatever Father wanted of you. Finally, you have fallen deeply in love with this woman of your own accord-”

“Shut up!” Lucifer bellowed.

“I’ve seen it all, Lucifer, when we fought in the desert, and I must tell you, I never thought it was possible,” Michael’s face went blank.

“What was possible?” Chloe probed.

“He loved someone more than himself and that he’d fallen in love with you.”

“I haven’t-” Lucifer started.

“Do you really want to deny what I’ve said? Think carefully, Brother. If you do, then you’d be lying and telling the truth is a point of honor for you.” Michael grinned at his Brother, knowing he’d found the chink in Lucifer’s pride.

“Is it true, Lucifer? Are in love with me?” Chloe asked, her jaw slack as she turned toward her partner. 

"Every word," Lucifer's voice dropped an octave, a quiet declaration that made her heart burst with the emotion she'd fought for too long. 

"You're not the only one," she said softly, cupping his cheek. "If it helps, it's mutual."

Lucifer gave him one of his genuine boyish smiles that he showed all too rarely, usually when he was caught off guard by what she said or did. "Chloe. . ."

"Shut up," she commanded him. "You not the only with the case of the angsty feels. I have them, too, for you."

Speechless, he pulled Chloe close, resting his brow against hers and said nothing.

“I-” Lucifer stopped and his smug charm, all of his rage and arrogance vanished. “Yes, Chloe, I’ve loved you from almost the first day we met. It wasn’t until last spring until I realized it.”

Almost a year, Chloe thought, stunned by his revelation. She said nothing, but blinked and gulped.

“And yet, you were sleeping anything with a pulse,” Chloe felt confusion and anger fuse into one emotion. “Why?”

“All I bloody do, anymore, is think of you,” Lucifer admitted, his vulnerability showing as it had that day on the beach. “I tried to tell you that day you kissed me, but I didn’t have the bullocks to do it. At least, the constant shagging distracted my mind from you for awhile.”

“Hmm,” she said, her face a neutral mask.

“You’re both missing the point,” Michael interrupted their moment.

“What is it, Brother?” Sarcasm dripped from Lucifer’s every word. “Other than you've utterly humiliated me and have enjoyed every moment of it."

"Maybe, just a little," Michael grinned, measuring about an inch with his thumb and index finger. He ribbed his brother further. "Remember, I give as good as I receive."

"So, O Great One," Lucifer gave a flamboyant wave of his hand. What divine truth are you going to bless us with today?”

“In ten billion years of existence, you have been an arrogant, selfish bastard.” Michael chuckled.

“Tell us something we don't already know,” Chloe smirked, chuckling. “He can be still be an ass.”

“Some things never change, Ms. Decker,” Michael agreed. “Yet, Lucifer has changed and, thus, he has earned the right to his wings.”

“How?”

“He is not as he once was,” Michael said. “Lucifer has committed several selfless acts. Our Brother said it best, ‘The greatest love people can show is to die for their friends.’ Lucifer started a different path when he resurrected you and continued it when he died for you.”

“What path are you talking about, Michael?" Chloe probed, not understanding what he meant.

"The path of redemption,” Michael answered as if it were obvious. "Of course."

“I may look like an angel and I might work beside one,” Lucifer glanced at Chloe with a naked affection in his gaze. “but, don’t make the mistake thinking that I’m one of them. I don't give a piss about redemption or destiny. All I ever wanted was to be my own man here and to be judged on my own merit.”

“You’re no longer merely a fallen angel,” Michael started. “To be honest, I don’t know what you are except that you’ve grown one.”

“Don’t you mean ‘grown a pair?'’” Lucifer scoffed, pulling a pack of Morleys from his pocket and lighting one.

“I’m not talking about balls, Brother.” Chloe choked on her laughter and shock resulting from Michael’s statement. Since when did angels say balls? “You’ve grown a soul and that changes the laws of everything.”

A heavy silence fell between the two brothers.

“Bloody Hell.”

"Unfortunately, there is more," Michael's mirth became grim. "It's coming."

Lucifer looked as though he'd been shell-shocked, neither moving or blinking.

"What's coming, Michael?" Chloe dared asked.

"Change."

 

To Be Continued. . .


	6. Stuck In the Middle With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, I don't know why I came here tonight.  
> I have a feeling that something isn't quite right.  
> I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair  
> and I'm wondering how we'll get out of here.  
> Angels to left of me, Demons to the right,  
> here am I stuck in the middle with you. 
> 
> Lyrics inspired by Stealer's Wheel's song, "Stuck In the Middle With You."

“You having a soul, Brother, changes everything,” Michael slowly exhaled. “As long as you were the poster boy for the Universe’s ultimate evil, there was a sense of order in the universe. Now, that you have a soul and have wings, things aren’t going to be so cut and dry for those zealots in the Silver City.”

“How in bloody hell did I get a soul?” Lucifer’s eyes gleamed red, his hands clenched into tight fists.

Michael said nothing, but nodded in Chloe’s direction.

Lucifer rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Thank you, once again, Dear Old Dad. You couldn’t keep from interfering, could you?”

Chloe nodded once, looking away before returning her gaze to the archangel. “I’m the Miracle Child, right?”

“Correct,” Michael confirmed.

“God specifically constructed me to be put in Lucifer’s path to affect his free will,” Chloe continued.

“Not quite,” Michael’s quickly interjected. “You were a blessing from God to your father and mother because your father was a righteous man in a way not seen since Abraham. You were a gift because of his faith in our Benevolent Father. However, he wanted to give Lucifer and several other lost sons a chance for redemption and it has manifested in you.”

“You are the Key of Souls,” Michael looked around. “Being on Earth makes me hungry. Is there somewhere we can get some food?”

************************************************************************

“Mmm,” Michael closed his eyes, savoring the maple syrup coating his pancakes. “Earth has some things the Silver City lacks.”

“Alright, we’re feeding your hole,” Lucifer longed for a good glass of whiskey at that point. “What is the Key of Souls?”

“After you fell, Father later came to regret your expulsion from the Silver City,” Michael spoke with his mouth full of syrup-soaked pancakes. “When so many of our brothers fell, they fell in love with humans and Father didn’t understand their fascination with humanity, at first.”

“It’s an amazing what a good shag will do for one’s disposition, Brother,” Lucifer chuckled. “You might try it sometime.”

Chloe looked around at the diner located inside an old passenger car from an old train. With the pink and turquoise décor and the black and white linoleum, the dinner had a very mid-century modern motif. She said nothing as she sipped her thick strawberry shake.

“Well, that mustn’t be true as we can all see that it hasn’t do you any good,” Michael said deadpan with a straight face.

Chloe nearly spit out her shake and covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. Who knew Micheal could outsnark Lucifer?

“Chloe, you are truly unique in this universe. You have inspired the most selfish of creatures to acts of altruism of his own volition. The power within you is the power of Creation itself directly from Father. You contain the oldest spark of divinity from the time before the Universe was born. It is a light like no other to which we angels are drawn. A few human women had it at the dawn of time because it still burned deep within their souls, but as the world grew older, the spark faded altogether from humanity.”

“So, what does that mean?” Chloe asked. “Does this fit the moth-to-flame analogy where I have this inner light and I'm suddenly an angelic bug zapper?"

“No, your soul is pure and bright,” Michael stabbed his sausage with his fork. “Light attracts light and Samael the Lightbringer crossed the path of the Key of Souls. Inspired by you as a person and your choice, he made decisions of his own free will that started him on the path of redemption. The last thing Father commanded me to do before He left the Silver City was to restore Samael’s wings as an outward sign of His forgiveness and redemption.”

“I don’t want bloody redemption,” Lucifer bellowed, pounding his fist so hard on the table that his coffee rattle loudly in the saucer holding it. “I want to just be left alone so I can live my life in peace.”

“Then, you shouldn’t have selflessly save Chloe’s life not once, but several times,” Michael countered, sipping his orange juice. “Now that you have a soul, there are those on both sides that would have it stolen from you and destroyed. For the factions of Hell and Heaven are on the verge of civil wars and all-out war with each other which will cause the world to fall into Chaos with Humanity stranded in the middle of it. They probably won’t survive because the war will be fought here.”

“I don’t bloody have a soul,” Lucifer said through gritted teeth.

“Yes, you do,” Michael corrected him. “Because you do, you no longer have to remain exiled from Home and you have your wings to return. However, there are those who think your return to Heaven is blasphemy and your wings are an abomination. Many seek your destruction and Chloe’s demise as well. I gave you your wings per Father’s demand so that you’ll have a fighting chance to protect yourself and the people you love.”

“And the demons of Hell want me dead. Why?”

“So, that one of them can take the throne, releasing chaos on Earth and escaping final destruction by bring the apocalypse to life on their own terms,” Michael took another sip of his orange juice.”

At that point, the Lucifer’s coffee cup rattled in the saucer as the Earth rolled beneath them, bric-a-brac falling from the display shelves above them. Lucifer looked out the window down the street, seeing all light suddenly shutting off block by block as a loud something quickly approached the diner. He gave Michael a quick look. “Pestilence is making a sodding comeback.”

“Get out of here,” Michael said urgently, handing Chloe a dagger. “You may have need of this. You are as lovely as any creation of Father’s I have seen.” Then, Michael turned to Lucifer. “Take flight and get out of here. I will stay behind and buy you time. You must rescue the second key and leave L.A. before the either side finds you.”

“What! What?” Chloe exclaimed as the lights were now off only a few blocks away. “What second key?”

“You are the key of souls,” Michael drew his sword as the pestilence was only two blocks away, swarming like a horde of Locusts blocking about any electric light. “You have the power of creation within you, Ms. Decker. Did you think you’d not pass it on?”

Chloe’s eyes went wide when she realized what Michael meant. “Lucifer, we have to get to Trixie. Please!”

“Right, on it we are, Luv,” he assured her. “Only Daddy Dearest would think of making a spare key.”

TO BE CONTINUED…….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I write whatever the Muses inspire me to write. The story is already alive and I give it a voice and a form.


	7. The In-between Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Trixie are the prey of an unholy hunt and nothing short of an angel, fallen or otherwise, can protect them. To protect those dearest to him, he will take them anywhere and do anything to ensure their safety. On this side of heaven and just short of Hell are the in-between places.

“Get out of here,” Michael said urgently, handing Chloe a dagger. “You may have need of this. You are as lovely as any creation of Father’s I have seen.” Michael turned to Lucifer. “Take flight and get out of here. I will stay behind and buy you time. You must rescue the second key and leave LA. before the either side finds you.”

“What! What?” Chloe exclaimed as the lights were now off only a few blocks away. “What second key?”

“You are the key of souls,” Michael drew his sword as the pestilence was only two blocks away, swarming like a horde of Locusts blocking about any electric light. “You have the power of creation within you, Ms. Decker. Did you think you’d not pass it on?”

Chloe’s eyes went wide when she realized what Michael meant. “Lucifer, we have to get to Trixie. Please!”

“Right, on it we are, Luv,” he assured her. “Only Daddy Dearest would think of making a spare key.”

*********  
Lucifer lifted Chloe into his arms while he spread his wings to catch a strong air current. As they ascended into the night sky, Chloe looked over his shoulder to see a dark cloud descending in front of the hospital where Michael stood alone, his sword held high as the only light in the darkness. Chloe gasped as the swarm of whatever those things were surrounded Michael, enveloping until she couldn’t see him.

“Will he die?” Chloe asked.

“No, Luv,” he assured her. “Michael is tougher that an unholy swarm of locusts. He’ll probably turn them into crispy locust kabob with his holy sword.”

He flew low over the Los Angeles skyline until they landed in the backyard of Chloe’s apartment. She went around to the front where she saw the door ripped off its hinges, lying haphazardly in the driveway. Lucifer drew his wings into himself until they vanished, pressing his fingers to his lips. Chloe gave a nod of understanding. He made his way to the front entrance, eyes glaring red and feeling ready for a fight.

He inhaled deeply of the mingling scents floating in the air: brimstone and sulfur from Maze, the aroma of carrion flowers much like the scent of rotting meat and a scent somewhere between vanilla and smoke. He recognized the mingling odors of Hell, Death and fallen angels. He silent motioned to Chloe to stay back until he made sure all was safe. Pulling her sidearm, she wonder how effective bullets were against demons, angels and other supernatural creatures.

She remembered once asking Lucifer what if felt like to be shot. He had thumped her painfully and she’d said, “Ow.” With that memory in mind, she thought her gun was about as effective as a flyswatter against a speeding freight train. Then, Lucifer’s cursing broke her train of thought. ‘If he’s saying ‘bloody hell,’ then it must be safe.’ 

Stepping inside, she saw shelves turned asunder, broken furniture and holes in the walls. “Trixie? Where are you, Monkey?”

“Gee, thanks, Decker,” Maze grumbled pulling herself to her feet. “Don’t even ask about your roommate,”

“Where’s Trixie?” Chloe tried hard to keep the panic out of her voice.

“She went with Enamel to the store to get ingredients for ice cream sundaes,” Maze looked around. “Damn, the whole did get torn to hell.”

“What happened?”

“Some hooded bitch came in demanding to know where the Key of Souls is and said I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about. She said she wanted her sword back and threatened to kill me if I didn’t tell her. She threatened to kick my ass along with some vamps she has as muscle, but I dusted a couple of them and I did the chick some serious damage.” Maze ran her fingers through her hair cover in wood, drywall and feathers. With every ounce of dignity she possessed, she sauntered across the room and pulled her hellblades from the opposite wall. “Whoever she was, she howled when these cut her.”

“Maze, did you say vamps?” Lucifer asked slowly. “Are you positively certain that’s what they were.”

“Yeah,” she reached down to the floor, picking up a wooden chair leg. “I staked two of ‘em with this.”

“Wait, what are vamps?” Chloe asked.

“Listen very carefully, Chloe, and do exactly as I tell you,” Lucifer demanded her attention. “Pack a bag for yourself and Trixie. Only the essentials, do you understand? I’ve no fear of vampires and neither does Maze, they’re low-level demons, but they are most effective when you want a job done quickly, if not neatly.”

“Vampires?” Chloe brows rose at least an inch. “You don’t mean fanged, undead bloodsuckers, do you?”

“I do, indeed,” Lucifer answered. “Whatever else, you can’t stay here, it isn’t safe and I don’t want to take the risk of them finding you.”

“Mommy!” A child’s voice called out in the front yard. Trixie dashed through the front door and hugged Chloe tightly around the waist. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Monkey,” she gave Trixie a solid smile. “Some just decided they didn’t like our front door.”

“Mom, I can handle the adult stuff,” Trixie stood akimbo, giving her mom a skeptical look. “Someone broke in and totaled the place.”

“Yeah, they did, Honey,” Chloe admitted. “We’re going to take a little trip, so we have to pack a few things. We don’t have a lot of time, so just take only what we need: underwear, socks, jeans, tops and shoes.”

“Chloe, what happened?” Amenadiel came in with two full grocery bags. 

“Take a whiff, brother,” Lucifer sniffed. 

Amenadiel inhaled slowly and deeply. “Azrael,”

“Indeed and she has vampires working for her.”

“Luci, vampires aren’t anything difficult that we can’t handle-” Amenadiel began.

“You seem to forget that Chloe and Trixie are only human and you’re fallen which leaves you in precarious state of being someone’s happy meal on legs,” Lucifer’s sarcasm made Amenadiel wince. “Maze can handle them well-enough, but Azrael is another matter.”

“Point taken,” Amenadiel agreed. “Where do you she is now?”

“Probably headed for Lux, I imagine,” Lucifer said. “So, we’re going to head the opposite direction.”

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“The last place the Angel of Death would think to look for a demon, a fallen angel, two human and the Devil,” Lucifer flashed. “The Hellmouth?”

“You mean the giant sinkhole from Hell?” Maze eyes widened. “Lucifer, are you fucking insane? That’s the last place you want to take Chloe and the kid.”

“That is precisely where I want them because Azrael won’t think of that place to look for them.” Lucifer countered. “Buckle up, kiddies, we’re going on holiday to Sunnydale.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Maze rant, throwing her arms in the air. “You want to take two humans to the Hellmouth?”

“Oh, yes.” Lucifer drawled. “I also plan on calling in a favor for extra protection while I track down my peachy little sister.”

To Be Continued…..


	8. I Didn't See That Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tonight is just full of surprises with Maze playing a demonic soccer mom, Trixie shows off her expanded vocabulary and Lucifer meets up with an old acquaintance. Chloe manages to maintain her sanity.

Chloe didn’t waste time packing frivolous items, concentrating on only absolute necessities. She packed a quick duffle bag full of clothes for Trixie along with some books, a doll and her favorite blanket. Chloe ditched the heeled boots and slacks she wore for sturdy hiking boots, thick socks and jeans. She had more than one firearm and several boxes of ammo along with a Taser. 

She saw Maze pull into the driveway in a black SUV with tinted glass. She kept the motor running as Trixie and Chloe met her in the garage, motioning for them to hurry. Chloe locked the door behind her and checked her ankle holder for the strange dagger Michael had given her. 

“I got camping gear and dry goods in the back,” Maze tossed the duffle bags in the back before closing the hatch. “Decker, hurry your ass up, we don’t have all night.”

“I’m coming,” Chloe yelled over her shoulder. “Hold on,”

“Not you,” Maze called into the garage, “I was talking to the kid.”

“Fuck off, Maze,” the nine-year-old scowled at the adult telling her to hurry. “Don’t get your knickers in a twists.”

“Beatrice Anne Espinoza,” Chloe stopped mid-stride. “You hold on right there!” 

“Mommy,” Trixie urged her to keep moving with a motion of her hand. “We have to go.”

“Where did you learn that phrase you just used?”

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist?” Trixie chirped, a large smile on her face. “Lucifer.”

“Not that phrase, Monkey,” Chloe replied slowly. “The F bomb phrase you just said to Maze,”

“I learned it from her,” Trixie beamed. “She said that’s what you say to people to make them quit bothering you.”

“No. . .” Chloe knelt in front of her daughter, peering over Trixie’s shoulder and staring hard at the woman behind her. “We don’t use that kind of language in our family. We’re can find better words to communicate our thoughts than profanity.”

“Sorry, Mommy,” Trixie’s eyes fell away and she made it a point to study a small crack in the garage’s concrete floor. “I was just trying to be grown up so you wouldn’t have to worry so much about me. I can pull my own weight.”

“Oh, Baby,” Chloe pulled Trixie to her in a tight hug. “No matter how grown up you are, I will always worry about you and you’ll always be my little girl. You do pull your own weight. Whoever told you otherwise is full of-”

“Ah, ah, Decker,” Maze smirked, leaning against the SUV and using one of her hell blades to clean beneath her fingernails. “Language.”

“You and I are going to talk later,” Chloe walked past her. “You don’t teach a nine-year-old little girl how to swear.”

“But, you don’t mind when I teach combat moves in the backyard.”

“She may need to know those some day for her safety and you’re the best there is,” Chloe seethed as she sat in the front passenger seat.

A look of surprise made Maze stop short, her face instantly blank by the off-hand remark. “Hey, did you just compliment me?”

“Yeah, I guess I did,” Chloe conceded, but only after she realized that she’d increased Maze’s ego by another twenty feet.

“You know what, Decker?” Maze gave her a slow nod of approval.

“What?” Exasperation laced its way into Chloe’s voice as she buckled her seat belt.

“You can be a real bitch, sometimes,” Maze pointed at her. “But, you’re a cool bitch.”

“Thanks,” Chloe wondered what Maze put in her cereal that morning besides drenching it in Johnny Walker. “I think.”

“Come on, bitches, let’s ride!” Maze cheered. “This tribe is on the move.”

“Oh, joy,” Chloe muttered under her breath.

“Mommy, camping is going to be so much fun!” Trixie added from the back seat. “We can make s’mores.”

**********************

A rare occurrence happened that night in LA that made Lucifer look skyward and release a long string of curses. It started to rain. “Gee, Dad, now you’ve ruined my last cigarette.”

He was in a seedier part of LA where most of the streets were deserted except for a long line of people queuing all the way around the block. Sauntering past them, he walked to a velvet rope, unhooked it and face a burly man that towered head and shoulders over Lucifer and was three times as wide. The bouncer stood between him and the door with arms cross, an insurmountable wall of solid rock and flesh. “No way, man. Get to the back of the line.”

“Perhaps, I should have introduced myself,” Lucifer reached inside his blazer pocket, pull out three tightly rolled hundred dollar bills. “Lucifer Morningstar.”

The bouncer palmed the money, then drew a card from a deck. Lucifer could only see the navy, blue and white plaid design of the card's back. He shook his head, chuckling. “A lady with infinity as her crown, petting a lion. It’s Strength.”

The bouncer’s eyes gleamed red, “You may pass, but you’re not welcome here, Morningstar.”

Lucifer’s impatience turned to quiet rage as he gave his inner form free reign, his eyes flaming brightly in the dark. “Don’t get cheeky with me, you pathetic half-breed,” 

Lucifer’s pristine white wing came around in a curved arc, catching the bouncer by the neck and effectively holding him against the wall. Lucifer loosened his wing’s grip that held the man firmly in place. Lucifer gave the bouncer a wicked, sly grin and whispered in his ear. “Ex inferos venisti et ad inferos idcirco praecipio tibi ut reverteretur in nomine. (1)”

Releasing his hold on the bouncer, the half-breed’s bright, gleaming eyes faded quickly to dark and glazed over since life no longer looked through them. Lucifer paid no attention to the queue of people gawking at what just occurred while others filmed the entire spectacle on their cell phones. 

Walking down a long hallway also lit in red light, the heady scent of sex and drugs lingered in the air, the dim lighting of club lent to the ambiance of mystery and foreboding. The faint smell of vanilla mixed with brimstone while heavy cigarette smoke swirled in the air. Lucifer felt quite at home in the seedy little hole in the wall as he thought of it. 

Bathed in red light from the colored bulbs in sconces along the walls, Lucifer knew exactly where he was going and whom he wanted to see. He walked past several vampires openly feeding on a willing donor. At another table, he saw a Cambion and a Nephilim snogging in the corner. He went to the bar, seeing the crimson-eyed demon making drinks. “Where’s Constantine?”

The demon looked up, seeing its former master nonchalantly staring at him. The short little man with glowing eyes trembled at the sight, “Please don’t send me back. Please don’t send me back.”

“I don’t give a sodding fuck if you escaped from Hell,” Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Where’s Constantine?”

“O-over in the corner,” the little man stammered, pointing into the darkness.

The demon quickly place a glace of amber liquid in from of Lucifer. “Scotch, single-malt, just the way you like.”

“Hm,” Lucifer shrugged, taking the glass, weaving through the throng of angels, demons, Nephilim, Cambions and half-breeds. The demonic wannabes and groups stared at him in awe as he walked past and, for a moment, he missed the power and the glory of being the Lord of Hell. Then, he thought of Chloe, his Key of Souls, who’d given him a soul and a possible way that he could be with her always.

Gulping the whiskey, he sat down at a table where a blonde man sat. His hair was short and tussled, sticking out in every direction. Crystal blue eyes stared at Lucifer and the man blew smoke in his face. Lucifer notice that Constantine’s lack of fashion sense hadn’t changed in the last decade, he still wore that raggedy, stained trench coat. Drinking a beer, he looked rumple and unkempt with his wrinkled oxford shirt and loosened red tie. 

“Lucifer, it’s been a dog’s age,” John motioned for Lucifer to sit.

“Indeed it has,” Lucifer’s rather posh accent clashed with John’s southern London brogue. 

“I doubt you calling me to meet you here was for a social call, mate.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Lucifer nodded at John’s pack of Morley’s. “May I?”

“Sure,” he shrugged pushing the pack in Lucifer’s direction.

Lucifer pulled on from the pack, lit it and took a long drag before taking another sip of his Scotch. “Do you remember that favor you owe me?”

“Oh, the one where you released your claim on my soul and healed me of cancer?” John took a swig of his beer. “I couldn’t expect you to let me forget that.”

“Quite right, yes, that’s the one,” Lucifer took another long puff. “Well, I’m calling in that favor.”

“What do you want, Lucifer?” John scoffed, leaning back in his chair. “Word on the street, mate, is you got your wings back. That means you have all your angelic powers that go with them. So, what are needing me for, then?”

“I’m an archangel, but I’m not omniscient,” Lucifer drawled. “My peach of a sister is on a rampage to hurt someone for whom I care very much. I want to find her and send her arse back to Heaven so she can’t hurt anyone.”

“Which sister?”

“Azrael.”

“Shite.” John choked on his drink. “You don’t ask for much, do you?”

 

To be continued. . . .

 

1) Latin to English Translation: “From Hell you came and to Hell I command you to return in my name."


	9. Just Having Fun At the Hellmouth With Pizza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maze is definitely a city chick, Chloe is uptight as usually and Trixie it taking it in stride like a boss. She's got this. Then, an unexpected rider shows up to ruin their night of on-the-run-camping-fun. Dry humor ensues.

Maze sat on the ground, sand getting into her leather pants. She growled in exasperation and scowled at Chloe. “How the Hell do humans think this is fun? Sand up my ass, fucked-up equipment that doesn’t work right and the directions don’t make any sense?”

Trixie giggled, gently taking one of the tent poles from Maze’s iron grip. “Here, it’s super simple! Let me show you.”

Trixie didn’t bother looking at the directions as it took her 5 minutes to set up the portable structure. “See? Easy peasy!”

“Camping, Decker said,” Maze mutter, rolling her eyes upward. “’It’ll be fun,’ she said. ‘You can set up the tent, Maze, it’s so easy a kid can do it,' she said.”

“It is,” Trixie gave her an innocent smile. “See. Now we just have to dig the fire pit and get wood for the fire?”

“I’ll strike my hellblades together and the fires of Hell will erupt at my command,” Maze declared with blades held high. 

“Uh-uh,” Chloe laid a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “No hellfire around the nine-year-old. Besides, I’ve done some research in the past several months since I found out that demons are real. We’re sitting on top of a Hellmouth and hellfire draws demons like bees to honey-”

“It’s a dormant Hellmouth, Decker,” Maze corrected her, lowering her blaze and slipping them into their sheaths along her hips. “Lucifer knows the last place anyone is going to look for the Key of Souls is near a Hellmouth, especially a dormant one. Most likely, Azrael will look for you in holy, protected sites such as a Wellspring or a Heavenbridge.”

“What’s a Heavenbridge?” Trixie asked, walking toward the perimeter of their campsite and picking up branches for firewood.

“You’re a Key of Souls, too, and you don’t know?” Maze gave her an astonished look. “You need some serious education, kid.”

“Then, teach me,” Trixie replied. “You told me that when I grew up, I could be whatever I wanted to be. I want to be just like you.”

“Hey, Trix,” Maze put a hand on the little girl’s shoulder. “You don’t want to be just like me. You wouldn’t like me like that or where I came from. It’s not meant for someone like you.”

“But, can’t I be a bad-ass like you?”

“Where did you learn that word?” Maze asked, giving her a skeptical look and started searching for additional brush to use as tinder. “I never taught it to you.”

“Lucifer,” she smiled. “He said that you and Mommy are bad-asses.”

“Well, yeah, we’re awesome like that,” Maze chuckled, giving her friend a sly grin. “You can be a bad-ass-in-training and you need some education.”

“Cool!” Trixie’s excitement was contagious. Maze never had had an apprentice or a student. Maybe, she could do something good for the kid after all that wouldn’t be disapproved of by Decker. 

“Okay, lesson one. A Hellmouth is a place where the barriers between dimensions, like Earth and Hell, is weak. It allows a bunch of portals in one spot that allow people like Lucifer and me to travel between Hell and Earth. It allows demons to travel to other Hell-like dimensions.”

“Wow,” Trixie’s quiet awe made Maze feel like she was doing something constructive. “That’s neat. So, is that how you and Lucifer arrived to Earth?”

“More or less,” she hedged. “That’s a story for another time.”

“Okay, I get it,” Trixie agreed, taking her first pile of wood and tinder back to the campsite. “So, is a Heavenbridge the same thing?”

“Pretty much, but it allows travel between places like the Silver City and Earth.”

“And that how Amenadiel got here?”

“Exactly,” Maze confirmed.

“Where’s Mommy?”

“I don’t know,” Maze looked around, wondering where Decker went. Cocking her head, she listened to the sounds around here beyond the campsite’s perimeter. “Hey, Decker! Where are you?”

“I’m over here,” she yelled. “Where’s the shovel to dig the fire pit?”

“Shovel?” Maze gave her a blank stare. “You didn’t say anything about packing a shovel.”

“I don’t believe this,” Chloe sighed. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No, how would I know we’d need a shovel?”

“You’re Lucifer’s second-in-command in Hell, but you know absolutely nothing about camping, do you?” Chloe scoffed in disbelief.

“Not a damned thing,” Maze admitted almost proudly.

Trixie went to the SUV passenger side and reached into the glove compartment. “Hey, I found a map. Let’s find the nearest town and see if they have a hardware store.”

“Honey, we’ll just google it,” Chloe googled it.

“Hey, the kid’s not always going to have a smartphone to do the thinking for her,” Maze countered. “Reading a map is a good skill for her to have.”

“Since when did you become concerned about Trixie’s skill base?”

“Since I realized that I may not always be able to save your human assess if a big bad comes after us and kills me,” Maze snapped “Azrael isn’t your garden-variety demon, she’s an archangel and as powerful as Lucifer was. Now, with his wings back, she isn’t going to play nice. If she finds us, all I can do is buy us some time and take us into Hell where she can’t follow.”

“That’s why you brought us here?” Chloe’s brows furrowed. “If she beats Lucifer, you’re planning to drag Chloe and me to Hell?”

“It’s the one place you’d both be safe from here,” Maze replied, taking the map from Trixie and spreading it across the SUV’s hood. Taking Trixie in arms, she hoisted her until she sat on the front edge of the SUV, looking at the map. “Do you know how to read a map?”

“Yeah, we learned how this year in Geography, Mr. Kino taught the class.” 

“Find where we are,” Maze said, glancing at the map.

“We’re here,” Trixie pointed to a coastal town in Sunnydale County. “It looks like the closest town is Puerto Goleta. According to the legend, it’s only about 16 miles away.”

“Good going, Monkey,” Chloe nodded, impressed by Trixie’s emerging maturity. “Google says they have a Walmart. I say we go and get some much-needed camping supplies.”

Chloe had SUV keys in hand and started toward the SUV when Maze put down Trixie and stood in Chloe’s way. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going to town to get some supplies,” Chloe nodded toward the SUV. “We need more than what we have.”

“Not in my brand new SUV, you're not! You don’t get it do you, Decker? You can’t just walk down the street right now. Azrael has eyes everywhere and Josh isn’t around to save your ass.”

“Mommy, why don’t you just call Josh?”

“Trust me, I’ve already tried,” Chloe admitted. “He was the first one I thought of when this started happening.”

“And where is your precious God now, Decker?”

“He said that help is on the way and He’s sending the best,” Chloe said slowly. “Yeah, why didn’t He come when He asked?”

A roar of a motorcycle cut into their conversation. Chloe and Maze looked at one another. “Did anyone else know we’re out here?”

“No, I didn't give Josh our location, still he is God after all.” Chloe answered, reaching for her firearm. “Still, better safe than sorry. Monkey, get in the SUV and stay low. Don’t come out until I let you know it’s okay.”

“But, Mommy-” Trixie started.

“Get. In. The. SUV.” Chloe gave her daughter her best mother’s look. Trixie didn’t argue. “Lock the doors and stay down.”

In the California sunset, a darkly-clad figure on a motorcycle came closer with engines roaring. A long, straight cloud of sand and dust trailed behind the mysterious rider as the rider came close to the trio. Coming to a sideways stop, the rider dismounted the bike and presented a dark silhouette against the first dark of night. 

Trixie turned the SUV headlights on bright where they shone directly into the rider’s eyes. With Chloe’s sidearm trained on the ride and Maze’s hellblades in her hands, the rider quickly held up gloved hands in a sign of immediate surrender. The two women glanced at each other in silent conversation. Chloe motioned with her gun, “You, remove your helmet nice and slow.”

The rider gave a single nod in understanding, reaching up and removing the helmet. Mazikeen studied the figure. Dressed in black Doc Martin boots, blue jeans and a long black leather trench coat covering a black tee shirt, he wasn’t dressed like a biker. She saw the rider slowly remove the helmet, revealing a chiseled face with a strong jawline and his head was crowned with a short, curly crop of bleached platinum hair.

“Hey, Pet, put down the nasty bee stinger,” he motioned to her sidearm and a Domino's Pizza box in his other hand. “I’m come in peace. Josh sent me and I brought pizza.”

"Pizza?" Maze exclaimed happily with bright eyes staring hard at the pizza box. 

“Who are you?” Chloe asked, noticing the very working-class Northern London accent. “How do you know Josh?”

“I work for him, Luv,” the rider held his hands high. 

“I don’t know that,” Chloe answered. “You could be anyone.”

“Josh told me to tell you that Moen and Delta are your best bets,” the rider answer. “Whatever the bloody hell that means.”

At that point, Chloe laughed and returned her gun to its holster. 

“Yeah, I know this guy,” Maze rolled her eyes. “Half-breed.”

“I’m a vampire, Love, and I’m the big bad in these parts.”

“I can smell Slayer all over you,” she sneered. “Not so bad as much as you’re some Slayer’s bitch, but you brought pizza, so I guess that makes you okay.”

“How do you know Josh?” Chloe asked.

“I work for him from time-to-time,” the rider responded. “He has odd jobs for me and they pay well.”

“A Pizza deliverer or vampire plumber?” Maze scoffed. "Who knew?"

“Try Champion, wench. It’s how I roll.” 

“What’s your name?”

“M’ name’s Spike,” With that, he sauntered forward, leaned up against the front of the SUV, pulled out a crumpled red pack of Morleys and a Zippo, and proceeded to light his cigarette all while still holding the pizza box in his other hand without it tipping sideways.

“You’re a vampire?” Chloe asked, swallowing the big lump in her throat, looking warily at Maze.

“Yeah, last time I checked, Luv,” he chuckled, sizing up Chloe as he slowly studied her from head to toe. “Josh say you were a pretty bird and he wasn’t joking.”

“Eyes off her, Vamp,” Maze glowered at him. “She’s off-limits,”

“Yeah, I can smell the brimstone all the way over here. I know she’s yours and I don’t give a sod.”

“I’m not hers or anyone else’s,” Chloe looked at Maze.

“You also smell like. . .” Spike crinkled his nose. “Archangel? Sweet, sickening smell?”

Chloe’s eyes widened at that remark. “What?”

“Josh said you were friends with a demon and in love with His son. By the wonky scents, I’d say you’re Luci’s lady.” Spike took another long drag of his cigarette, letting blue smoke waft around him in a blue halo.

“You know Lucifer?” Maze’s skepticism wasn’t lost on the vampire.

“Yes, I know Luci,” Spike did a fair imitation of her with his answer. “I needed a place to stay that was nice and dark and Luci let me stay in his basement while some vampire hunter thought I’d make a nice trophy in an urn on his mantle, so I’m paying back Josh and Luci in one swoop.”

“Oh,” Chloe blinked slowly. Once. Twice. “God. Devil. Demon. Key of Souls. Vampires.Pizza. Got it. Hey, you wouldn’t have happened to bring-”

“Camping supplies?” Spike finished for her. “As a matter of fact, Josh said you’d be needing those, but couldn’t hardly bring on my bike. He said to take one of you ladies into town with a list and come back with them.”

“Which one of us?” 

“Trixie?” Spike asked. “He said to take the Niblet since she’s the one with the least amount of drama right now.”

Trixie scampered out of the SUV at that point, walking up to Spike. “So, you’re a real vampire, huh?”

“I am,” he said. He blew his smoke to the side to not blow it in Trixie’s face.

“Prove it.”

“You wouldn’t like me when I vamp out.”

“Come on, show me!” she dared him. “You’re not scared, are you?”

His face warped as if it were a mirage on a hot highway and he never took his eyes off Trixie. A few seconds later, Spike stared at her, his face adorned with ridge bumps on his brow, yellow eyes and snaggled teeth framing fangs. “What do you think now, little girl?”

Trixie stood akimbo, motioning the vampire closer. He leaned forward and she started feeling his brow ridges and his fangs. He jumped back as if stung. “Hey, now! No touching the hardware.”

“Maze does a better face,” Trixie shrugged. “but, yours isn’t bad.”

“Josh was right,” Spike said, astonished by the little girl’s lack of reaction. “She deals with weird well. He said she has potential.”

“Potential?” Maze turned her head sharply in Spike’s direction. “Tell me that was just a generic statement.”

“He said she has the potential, it just hasn’t shown up yet. That’s why she needs trained now and that’s why you’re here, I’m here and Azreal is coming after her and her mum. There’s a lot of power in the Decker bloodline. It’s no accident that Lucifer picked the Hellmouth.”

“What do you mean by potential?” Chloe asked, not understanding why that particular word carried such heavy meaning between the vampire and the demon.

“Not tonight, Love, I’m nearly knackered, I’ll tell you another time.” Spike stretched. “Give me the keys to the SUV, Chloe, and Niblet and I will bring back the camping supplies you need.”

“Maze said Azrael has eyes everywhere,” Chloe started.

“Trixie will be all right with Spike,” Maze stated with a calm that Chloe had never seen her display. “We’ll make a list of what we need and we’ll wait here.”

“Mommy, I get to help.”

“I don’t feel comfortable letting Trixie ride off with someone I don’t know, whether he knows Josh and or Lucifer.” Chloe said to Maze.

“She couldn’t be in safer hands,” Maze shrugged. “He may be a Slayer’s bitch and a pathetic half-breed demon, but he’s a big bad-ass pathetic half-breed Slayer’s bitch. Let them go and you can show me how to set up the rest of this equipment. I’m new to this whole camping thing.”

“I don’t like this-” Chloe started.

“Decker, are we friends?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Then trust me now when I say that Trixie is safer with Spike in Puerto Goleta at Walmart than with us in the middle of nowhere right now. Just go with it.”

Chloe grudgingly hand the keys to Spike. “Thanks, Luv. You’re a peach.”

“Hm.”

He and Trixie walked to the SUV.

“Hey,” Maze called after them.

“What?” Spike asked, peering around the driver’s door.

“No smoking in there. I just bought it.”

“Bullocks,” he grumbled. “Josh said you were difficult.”

"Hey, leave the pizza!" Maze yelled. 

TO BE CONTINUED…….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am an avid fan of BtVS and Angel the Series. Though it'd been a while, I admit that I haven't seen as many crossovers between Buffy and Lucifer and I'm surprised. Both are supernaturally themed and set in Los Angeles. I decided to go only with the canon of the series and stay away from the comic book versions of all three. 
> 
> Trivia: per Buffy Wiki, Sunnydale County was shown in an episode more than once with a map of Santa Barbara country. One of the entries mentioned that Sunnydale is/was two hours north of Los Angeles and guess what? So is Santa Barbara. The closest town I thought that would work for this story was Goleta, an actual town 16 miles from Santa Barbara. Since the Luci and Buffyverses are colliding nicely, Goleta became Puerto Goleta for storytelling purposes. Enjoy!


	10. The Last Temptation of Lucifer Morningstar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer seeks information that will aid in protecting Chloe, but the way he goes about it isn't very stellar. Even with the wings of an angel, he will never be mistaken for one. Will his dabbling in his old ways put Chloe and Trixie in harm's way?

Previously on Lucifer. . . 

Lucifer pulled on from the pack, lit it and took a long drag before taking another sip of his Scotch. “Do you remember that favor you owe me?”

“Oh, the one where you released your claim on my soul and healed me of cancer?” John took a swig of his beer. “I couldn’t expect you to let me forget that.”

“Quite right, yes, that’s the one,” Lucifer took another long puff. “Well, I’m calling in that favor.”

“What do you want, Lucifer?” John scoffed, leaning back in his chair. “Word on the street, mate, is you got your wings back. That means you have all your angelic powers that go with them. So, what are needing me for, then?”

“I’m an archangel, but I’m not omniscient,” Lucifer drawled. “My peach of a sister is on a rampage to hurt someone for whom I care very much. I want to find her and send her arse back to Heaven so she can’t hurt anyone.”

“Which sister?”

“Azrael.”

“Shite.” John choked on his drink. “You don’t ask for much, do you?”

***************  
“You’re a bloody archangel, why don’t you find her yourself?” John smashed his Morley into the dusty ashtray at the bar. “You’ve got your feathers back, mate, you do it.”

“I would except there’s more to it than that,” Lucifer shifted uncomfortably in his chair, swirling his glass of single malt Scotch before savoring another sip to. “Dear ol' Dad has left the building, so to speak, and now rumor has it that there is a three-way war vying the top seat. I want no part of it and the only two strong enough to, perchance, take said seat are my brother Michael -” Lucifer paused.

“-and your sister, Azrael,” Constantine finished. “Don’t forget yourself.”

“Yes, well, that’s not entirely true,” Lucifer admitted, inhaling the long-familiar scents of smoke and whiskey wafting off the blonde sitting across from him. “You know I’ve no desire to return to the Silver City. Dull. Boring. Why go there when I can have so much more fun here?”

“You consider Earth fun, mate? Are you complete sack o’ hammers?” Constantine asked.

"I consider it my home, John," Lucifer's eyes went dark with the emotional intensity not hidden beneath his words. "There are people, humans, on this planet for whom I care very much and even with my wings, my abilities aren't yet at their full strength."

"You?" Constantine scoffed, nearly choking on his drink. "Care about someone other and yourself? So, what are you getting, quim or prick?">

"Neither, actually," Lucifer flicked the stray ashes from his Morley into the ashtray between them. <"She is pure and good, nauseatingly boring, yet has somehow made me love.

"And if you leave Earth, you leave all the fun you have behind you, right, mate?

“Not all, but most. Where else can I get my bullocks arse-deep in a good shag?” Lucifer raised one brow in question. “With Michael in power, he’d be too concerned with affairs in the Silver City to pay attention to me,” Lucifer explained. “You see, my little brother gets too caught up in the details. If if Azrael ruled, she’d show no mercy to me or those I care about because I destroyed her precious toy.”

“Ah,” John nodded in understanding. “You never liked getting your hands dirty, did you, Luci? You always have to be a brainiac, proving how bloody brilliant you are. Berk.”

“Listen to me, you git,” Lucifer leaned forward. “If my sister takes over Dear old dad’s spot, death stops. Demons will be coming through Hellmouths threefold and you’ll have those gorgeously-callused hands casting more spells in a day than you wipe your arse. She expects me to come after her, but she won’t be looking for a very human demonologist and Warlock extraordinaire nipping at her heals. She thinks humans are apes and don’t have the capacity of intelligent thought, let alone power.”

“So, what do I get in return?” John leaned forward and he smelled of smoke and whiskey. His voice was low and hoarse, an octave lower than he usually spoke. “If I find your sister, what’s in it for me?”

Lucifer gave him a knowing grin, “And what would you like, Johnny Boy? I’m the one calling in the favor, Darling, and you’re in no position to bargain.”

“If you want my help then I want something for me and you know what that is,” John muttered. “what we always bloody get when we’re together.”

"As much as I'd like to, John, I can't. I made a promise."

"You can't find Azrael on your own can you?"

"I don't have time for all of my abilities to return to me. I've lived like a mortal too long.

John covered Lucifer's hand with his own. “Give me what I want and I’ll give you everything you want. You want to save your, ladylove, don't you?”

Lucifer's dark brows furrowed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I made a promise to be monogamous."

"It's only cheating if you've already shagged her," John put out his cigarette in the ashtray. "Like you said, where else can you bury your bullocks arse-deep? I might be your last hurrah before you go straight-laced and you want something only I can give you. Shall we give it a go?" 

Lucifer exhaled. Damn, he still found Constantine attractive and he'd do anything to protect Chloe. He didn't have time to search through his contacts for another Practitioner as adept as the blonde across from him. Plus, it had been the longest he'd been without sex. John did have a point. He'd promise to be monogamous and it couldn't be cheating if he hadn't yet slept with Chloe. "When you put it like that, how can I resist?"

“Fine, but not here,” John threw a twenty dollar bill on the table before putting on his trench coat. “C’mon, what you want and what I need can’t be done here, mate. All of my good stuff is back at my flat.”

“After you, Johnny.” Lucifer purred, appreciatively eyeing the slender, sinewy frame of John Constantine. “Lucifer likes.”

The two left the bar and within a half hour were back at John’s apartment. He pulled out a California map splattered with blood droplets, spreading it across an old wood table. “Give me one of your feathers.”

“Do I look like a chicken?” Lucifer voiced his indignation, cloaking his wings protectively around him. “One does not simply ‘pluck’ one of my wings-”

“Shut your gob, Foghorn,” John reached out and pulled one of the larger primary feathers with a strong yank, prompting a loud howl of pain from Lucifer. “Missing one won’t kill you.”

“Bloody hell! That hurt!” Lucifer unfurled one wing in John’s direction, knocking him solidly on his backside. “What did you do that for?”

“Capnomancy alone isn’t going to find us a pissed archangel,” John explained. “We need a boost in power and that’s where this feather comes in handy.”

“And if you use my feather, she’ll sense the power is coming from me,” Lucifer argued, attempting to grab the large glowing feather from John’s grasp.

“You know how to use your power, mate, but you don’t know everything,” John shook his head. Taking a long stick of incense, he lit it with his Zippo and began making slow counter-clockwise circles around the glowing ember, coaxing the fragrant smoke to swirl into distinctive patterns around Lucifer’s feather. He saw that where Lucifer’s feather had been deeply embedded in his wing were droplets of blood forming. Quickly, John dabbed the end of the feather where the blood congealed on his wing and shook off the droplets over the map.

“Et in hac die  
Potestatem invocabo antiqui  
Denudat absconsa est, ut bene  
ostende mihi faciem hodiernam locum mors de archangelii.”

 

The droplets of Lucifer’s blood splashed on the map, sending up tendrils of sweet, heavy golden smoke into several spiraling towards that hovered over it. Using the remaining blood on the feather’s end, John drew Enochian sigils at the top, bottom, left and right of the map over other symbols that marked it. The glowing ribbons of smoke danced over the map, darting left and right as it they were butterflies in search of nectar. Finally, it hovered in mid-air for a breath before turning into a small cinder, dropping quickly from the air and burning a small hole in the map.

Still nursing his aching wing, Lucifer leaned over the shorter man’s shoulder. “She’s in LA, all right, but she seems to be traveling in circles. She’s not used to Earth, is she?” 

“I don’t know how long she’s been here,” Lucifer admitted.

“I’ve sent some friends to keep her occupied for a few hours with some much-needed distractions,” John smirked. “And now, give me what I want.”

Lucifer’s wings flared to their full span, sending papers fluttering throughout the room. His eyes gleamed red as he gave a savage grin to Constantine. John’s eyes locked on to Lucifer’s gaze as he grabbed Lucifer’s jacket lapels, pulling him close so that stubble rubbed against stubble and lips met in a crash of lust and need. Lucifer ripped away John’s trench coat and used one of his wings to slice through the loosely hanging red tie around his neck. 

John didn’t see how Lucifer removed his blazer, but he was a passionate participant in ripping the buttons off Lucifer’s plum shirt as sank his teeth into his neck. Growls and groans mingled as Luci bared his neck and tore the crumpled white oxford shirt from John’s back. In their battle for dominance and mutual need, John ended bent over the same wooden table where the map had been. Sinewy legs spread wide apart Lucifer eyes flared red in triumph when he claimed Constantine in conquest.

********

Later, the two men lay in John’s bed, crumpled sheets and Lucifer’s white wings swathing them. Both smoked Morley with peaceful looks upon their faces. Sweat clung to their bodies while semen stained the crumpled bedsheets. The smell of sex hung in the air and the ambiance of magic heighten both men’s senses to a state of near-euphoria.

“It’s been a long time since I was thoroughly buggered,” John took another long drag of his cigarette. “I think we’re even.”

“Indeed,” Lucifer turned over on his side, running his finger through John’s spiky blonde hair. “I take it you found our shag immensely satisfying?”

“Idiot,” Constantine rolled his eyes. “You were crying out, ‘oh bloody hell’ more times that I could count. Come to think of it, mate, I quit counting soon after we started.”

Lucifer said nothing, but nodded in agreement.

“Luci,” John propped himself up on one elbow look at the other man. “Who are you protecting? Is this lady really that special?”

“Yes,” Lucifer took a drag, looking at the ceiling and blowing smoke rings into the air. “Someone very dear to me for whom I care very deeply and her spawn.”

“Really?” John drew back to study Lucifer. “Since when did you give two quid about a woman?”

“Since said woman somehow ended up in my path, thanks to Daddy Dearest,” Lucifer took another drag. “I’m taken with her, John. While she vexes me, she accepts me as I am without hesitation, whether I’m right or wrong. Wherever she may take me in this life, she won’t forsake me and that is a gift no one in Heaven or Hell has ever given me.”

“Bloody Hell, Lucifer!” John sat up, the look or shock etched into his features. “You’re in love with her.”

“Yes, I suppose I am,” Lucifer wistful reply was quiet enough that John strained to hear it. 

“Human?” John finally found the strength to ask.

“Very.”

“Hmm,” John answered. 

Lucifer glanced at his lover, seeing shadows hiding an expression on John’s expression that he couldn’t discern. “John, for what it’s worth-”

“Don’t. Luci. Just. Don’t.” he answered in the dark, his voice ragged.

The golden smoke hovering over the tattered map on the floor began swirling it, a tiny vortex of miniature gleaming orbs and dust. John jumped out of bed, forgetting to wrap himself in a sheet. “Well, I suppose that settles it then. What are you going to do now?”

“I'll take the fight to Azrael, the sex heightened the spell you cast and I can feel all my abilities have regained their strength. Lucifer rose to his feet, quickly dressing. “You have a spare shirt, John?”

“Here,” he threw his crumpled Oxford at him. “How can you fight her?”

“I am the Lightbringer, after and I will take care of Azrael.” Lucifer opted not to wear the crumpled oxford, but immediately headed for one of John’s bureau drawers. Knowing exactly what he wanted and where it was located, he pulled out a clean white tee shirt and donned it. “Sorry, Darling, the Devil does Prada, not wrinkled.”

“We won’t be doing this again, will we?” John asked in a gruff voice, his gaze not meeting Lucifer’s eyes.

“No, I doubt that we will, Johnny,” Lucifer’s soft reply was followed by a deep kiss where tongues met and both tasted the smoke and spirits of the other’s tongue. “But, it was fun, wasn’t it?”

“The best, mate,” John agreed. “Now, go, before your sister gets the jump.”

“Going.” Lucifer assured him. Unfurling his wings to their full length, he gave a gentle look of affection toward John Constantine and John nodded once, smiling back. John blinked and within that blink, Lucifer vanished. 

And in the dark, John Constantine wept.

 

********

 

Lucifer decided he’d make better time flying than driving. He pulled his cell phone from his trouser pocket, dialing Maze’s number. 

“Yeah?”

“Maze, did you make it to the Hellmouth?”

“Yeah,” she answered, sounding as if her mouth were full.

“You sound as if you’ve had all of your teeth pulled. What in the Hell are you doing?”

“Eating pizza.”

“Chloe and Beatrice, how are they?” Lucifer made no attempt to hide the urgency in his voice.

“Chloe’s eating pizza and the kid’s with Spike,” Lucifer heard the pop of beer can being opened in the background. “They’re getting camping supplies.”

“Well, you may want to pick up camp, Maze, because little sister is coming your way.”

“Something ratcheted this way comes?” Maze snorted. “Not too worried, Lucifer. You have your wings.”

“And I’m still remembering how to use them,” Lucifer snapped. “I have a confession to make.”

“And that is?”

“I’m wasn't as powerful as I’d like,” he admitted. “A feather was plucked from one of my wings and I bled. When I was in the Silver City or in Hell, no one was able touch my wings, let alone pluck me like a chicken. I theorize that because I’m in neither realm, Maze, that my powers were somewhat limited."

“And you decided to you wanted us to hang out a dead Hellmouth?”

“I had to test the theory, Maze,” Lucifer explained. “I couldn’t hone in on Azrael and I had to call in a favor to do it. While my stamina, all other talents and prowess are intact, unfortunately, my angelic abilities were still lacking. I was at that Hellmouth only within the past six months to permanently take care of a zeplar demon dealing vamp blood in Lux. The Hellmouth is only dormant, Maze, not death and she is waking up. Two years ago, we didn’t see demons often in LA. Now, there are more demons than bloody lawyers.”

“True that,” she agreed, taking another large bite of pepperoni pizza.

“I just need to find her and then we execute Part B.”

“Which you’ve never bothered to tell me, by the way,” Lucifer heard Maze taking several swigs of something over the phone. “What is it?”

“Azrael wants Chloe because she is the Key of Souls incarnate. I have it on good authority from some very good pillow talk that she’s pissed because I have a soul and wants vengeance for me keeping her from her Flaming Sword. An old friend owed me a favor, did some divination and found out between shags that Azrael thinks but killing Chloe, poof, my soul fades. It doesn’t work that way, Maze.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Maze’s voice became somewhat shrill. “You fucked someone?”

“I gave a fabulous shag in return for information,” Lucifer answered nonchalantly. “It’s was an equitable trade, tit for tat, you see.”

“You bastard,” he could almost see Maze face palming through the phone. “If you’re in love with Chloe, you don’t fuck anybody else, Lucifer. Humans aren’t like us, especially Chloe. You promised her monogamy and she took you at her word.”

“But, I did it to save her life,” Lucifer’s surprised reply sounded innocent and clueless to Maze. “Surely, she’ll understand it if she knows why-”

“No, she won’t, you idiot!” Maze yelled into the smartphone. "If you have any sense at all, keep your damned mouth shut and don't ever tell Chloe what you've done. Not only are incredibly thoughtless, selfish and full of yourself, you are completely fucking insane, Lucifer. I don't know who is more of a ratcheted fuck-up, you or your sister.”

Click.

“Maze?” Lucifer heard nothing on the other side of the conversation. “Maze?”

 

TO BE CONTINUED. . .

i. English Translation: In this time and in this hour,  
I call upon the ancient power.  
Reveal her secrets to make known well,  
show me the current location of Death's archangel.


	11. It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Hurt

“Decker,” Maze shook Chloe’s shoulder and received whimper and a sob as her answer. Maze’s eyes widened, what was wrong with Decker? The woman slept on her feet with one eye open. Grabbing her by both shoulders, she gave her a rougher shake. “Decker!”

She saw the tears flowing down her cheeks as she slept. 

“Aw, shit!” Maze muttered, rolling her eyes. “How do I deal with a wimp-ass detective?”

Sighing in exasperation, she realized mom and daughter were from the same family tree. “Hey, it works for Trixie.”

She sat down beside Chloe and wrapped her arms around the Detective caught in the deep throes of a nightmare. Maze held her softly to her chest and stroked the Detective’s hair. She made her voice soft and motherly as she had her Chloe speak to Trixie when the kid had nightmares. It was the best example she had to use at the moment.

“Hey, Decker,” she said softly, stroking the Detective’s hair. “It’s okay. Everything’s all right. Mom-Maze is here. I’ve got you.”

Maze did everything she’d seen Chloe do for Trixie and she had mimicked it several times with Trixie when the kid had horrible dreams. Maze thanked Lucifer that demons didn’t dream.

Chloe abruptly sat upright, “Lucifer!”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Maze whispered. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. It was just a bad dream.”

“Lucifer, he-” Chloe sniffed, realizing that her cheeks were wet. Tentatively, she wiped them dry. “I can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t. Did Lucifer just call?”

“Yeah, he got the info he needed."

“Did he have sex with someone to get it?” Chloe asked, giving her roommate a quick look before realizing she was held tight in Maze’s embrace, with her head cradled in the demon’s shoulder. She shirked away Maze’s hold and rose to her feet. “Awkward.”

“I do it for your kid, Decker, all the time. You can’t help it if you’re human, so get over it.”

“Did he have-”

“Yes, he got the info he needed and no,” Maze looked at her. “He didn’t fuck anyone to get the info. He got propositioned, but he turned Constantine down flat. Instead, Luce paid a huge chunk of case for the information.”

“Oh, thank God!” Chloe whispered. Seeing Maze give her a disapproving glance. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Why are you so hung up on him?” Maze asked, rising to her feet and dusting the sand off her jeans. “He’s into you and anyone else with a hole.”

“He’s my friend -”

“That you’re in love with,” Maze finished “He loves you too, Decker, and he’s trying to be a better -I dunno- demon, man, angel for you. I don’t know what or who he is these days.”

“Identity crisis, huh?” Chloe chuckled.

“You could say that,” Maze nodded.

“What time is it?” Chloe asked.

“It’s a little past eleven o’ clock.”

“Why aren’t Spike and Trixie back yet?”

“Good question.”

“I can’t sleep anymore,” Chloe exhaled. “I don’t like sitting in the middle of the desert feeling helpless. Not my style. Would you show me some knife tricks.”

“Have you ever danced with a demon in the pale moonlight?” Maze said in her best seductive voice.

“Just teach me how to fight with one, okay?”

“Better yet, I happen to have an extra set,” Maze pulled two extra hellblades, one from each boot. “I’m not gonna be gentle with you. I will work your ass until you learn.”

“You’re going to be disappointed, roomie,” Chloe took the two blades from Maze, hilt first. “I’m a very fast learner.

*********

Thirty minutes later, Chloe dripped with sweat and Maze gave her grudging respect. “Not bad for a human.”

“I told you,” Chloe panted. “I’m a fast learner. One more round?”

“You’re tired and one slice will kill either you or me. You want a real go around, it’ll be next time. You need to rest.”

“I can’t, Trixie’s not back yet.”

In the distance, they heard the faint purr of vehicle and the blue glow of halogen headlights. Chloe looked at her watch. “It’s eleven-thirty. It had better be them. If it is I’m going to kick Spike’s ass-”

“Easy, Decker,” Maze put a calming hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “It’s not like you to go off half-cocked. That’s Lucifer’s thing. Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m not the same person I was 24 hours ago and I don’t really give a damn about much of anything right now except Trixie’s safety and a cold beer.” Chloe opened her beer, taking a long drink of it. “So I’m this Key of Souls, do I have any superpowers that help me kick demon ass?”

“Not like shooting lasers out of your eyes or farting fire out your ass,” Maze chuckle. “You inspire. You inspire fallen creatures to want to do good deeds. When someone evil with no soul does a great good because of love, that creature grows a soul. So, Lucifer has lost his balls and put them in a lock box in the form of a soul.”

“What about you, Maze?” Chloe gave a sly grin. “You love Trixie and you show it. Is that a soul I see growing.”

“Those are fighting words,” Maze hissed, licking her hellblade then throwing it at her roommate.

Chloe caught it without batting an eyelash. Chloe’s eyes widened as she held the knife by the blade and then back at Maze who looked equally stupefied. “No superpowers, huh?”

“I. . .” Maze cleared her throat. “could be mistaken or it was luck.”

“Do it again,” Chloe urged, a twinkle in eye that Maze ever saw when she caught her own reflection in the mirror. “Throw the other one.”

“You don’t have Josh and his fig cookies around to save your ass, Decker,” Maze warned.

“Do. It. Now.”

Maze shook her head and turned away, heading toward the dying campfire. “Lucifer would kill me-”

The blade’s arc flew true toward Chloe, faster than the human eye could comprehend. The sound it made while slicing through the air was a shrill whistle, nothing like any sound made on Earth. Chloe didn’t move in time to catch it as it came toward her brow.

She dodged mere inches to the right, watching the dark blade glow as it whizzed by her. The blade landed in a Joshua Tree ten feet behind her. 

“Wow!” Maze’s excited grin was met by Chloe’s amazed laugh. “Nice.”

“Well, it’s not because I have Lucifer’s blood in my veins,” Chloe shook her head, walking over the cactus and extracting the blade from its plump pulp. “We have a new mystery.”

“I have a theory,” Chloe said.

“What?” Maze took both blades from Chloe, wiping the cactus pulp off the blades onto her jeans. 

“If Trixie and I are both Key of Souls, then she might be able to do the same thing,” Chloe mused. Pursing her lips together in concentration, she threw Maze a side glance. “Do you think you could teach her the same thing?”

“What do you think we’ve been doing for the last three months, Decker, and why Trix’s drawings have been rearranged?”

“To hide all the holes in the walls that she’s made when she’s missed. You’re paying for the repairs to the wall, Maze.”

“Don’t get your underwear twisted,” Maze gave a dismissive wave before shoving both sets of knives back into her boots. “Already done. You’ll see when we get back to the duplex.”

Maze realized it was her brand new SUV coming up the deserted path as it parked in its original spot. Out of it hopped Trixie from the driver’s side and Spike from the passenger side with a sack of groceries in hand. 

“Sorry we’re late, but Tidbit here got lost a few times,” he gave a crooked, boyish grin. “But we made it back well enough.”

Chloe walked up to the vampire, staring him down. “You let a nine-year-old drive an SUV?”

“Sure, quick learner, too,” he said proudly.

“Mommy, he says I’m better than a NASCAR driver and good enough for get-away,” Trixie bubbled for several minutes how he taught her how to fade -”

“No,” Spike gently corrected the little girl. “Not fade, but drift.”

“I can drift better than anyone he’s seen in a long time,” Trixie nodded proudly. “Drifting is a driving technique where the driver purposely oversteers, with loss of traction in the rear wheels or all tires, while keeping control while driving as if rounding a corner.”

“Very good, Trixie,” Spike gave her a piece of licorice.

“You let the kid drift in my SUV?” Maze spoke in a quiet voice, sauntering forward and pulling one of the hellblades from her heeled boots. Sliding it quickly up Spike’s black jeans, the blade met with his crotch. Without looking down, she popped of the bottom button. “I don’t know whether to congratulate you or castrate you.”

He gulped. “Well, Love, I'm always up for the first and I’d be happy for a wrestling match to determine the second.”

“Is that so?” Maze popped another metal button from Spike’s crotch as she held him in her free hand. “That could be arranged.”

“Mmm, that could be arranged,” she murmured. “Kid, keep the keys safe.”

“Okay!” Trixie smiled happily. 

“The camping supplies are in the back,” Spike yelled over his shoulder as Maze roughly dragged him through the night. 

“Can’t those two just get a room?” Trixie asked her mother as she walked around to the back of the SUV, opened the hatch and began unloading camping equipment and food.

“You’re growing up way to fast, Monkey,” Chloe cast a disapproving look in the direction she’d last seen the demon and the vampire. “Just because they do dangerous things to themselves and their bodies doesn’t mean that they’re good examples. You know that, right?”

“Mom, I’m nine, not stupid,” Trixie hauled out a couple of Coleman lanterns, setting them over by the fire. “Maze says I have to grow up sometime because being a little kid isn’t going to save me. Being prepared is what will keep you and me alive.”

Chloe said nothing as she lowered the new camping cooler to the ground and reached for the much-needed shovel in the back of the SUV. While Trixie, sadly, was right, that didn’t mean it was good for her.


	12. The Universe Has Been Turned On Its Head Since Daddy's Galactic Road Trip

Lucifer knew he had nearly fully regained his strength, but he wasn’t yet powerful enough to best his sister, Azrael, in combat. As he flew away from Constantine’s apartment, he thought about the temptation John presented, offering his arse to a very hungry devil for one last, bullocks-deep shag. Lucifer’s mouth watered and his cock hardened at the thought of it until Chloe entered his mind’s eyes. At that point, he wanted to vomit and he lost his erection.

He soared over the LA skyline, determined to find his sister and eliminate her before she could sit in Daddy’s hotspot. He didn’t care what happened to him as much as he cared about Chloe and Trixie. Seeing a faint green glow on the horizon, he smelled the unearthly sweetness associated only with the Host. Again, he was glad that Constantine’s magic came through under the radar.

Landing on a billboard while the moon was behind a cloud, Lucifer perched on it with wings folded and eyes keen. Hearing and sight allowed him to listen with ease to the rallying speech that Azrael gave her minions.

She hadn’t changed in the eons since he’d left the Silver City. Tall, slender and graceful, her hair was black and straight, falling well to her waist. Her skin was pale, like snow on the ground in winter. Dark smudges highlighted bright green eyes and he thought it looked more like punk cosmetics than the touch of death she represented. Ethereal and beautiful, Lucifer knew her to be merciless when angered.

“Any word?” she asked to the young angel standing before her.

“He has returned to the city, Your Grace,” the angel reported.

“Where is his mortal and her child?” she asked, barely containing her impatience.

“We can’t find them, Your Grace, it’s as if they’ve disappeared.”

“We must find them, their presence may distract Samael enough from successfully taking Father’s throne,” impatience heavily accented each word. “Have you looked in the churches, masques and synagogues?”

“Yes, Your Grace, along with Buddhist monasteries, Hindu and Sikh temples, holy ground and cemeteries,” the angel added. “If they were on holy ground and were protected, I’d know.”

“Or we must think like my elder brother,” Azrael rested her chin upon her fist thinking. “Lucifer abhors Father with a passion and wouldn’t ask for His Help if the mortals’ lives depended upon it. No, he’d act alone, using wits instead of brawn. Everything he does with passion and wiliness. Now, if I were the Devil in love with a mortal who has the power to upset the balance in the universe by making the Lord of Hell redeemed, where would I hide her?”

“Unholy ground!” The angel with the opaline black wings suggested.

“Why ever would you say that, Sherlockiel?” asked her younger brother.

The slender angel with the unruly black curls and pale skin. “One must assume that if Samael is hiding the mortal and her daughter, then it can only be two places where wouldn’t think that we would look. We know it not to be holy ground or we would have found them by now. So, that leaves the only possible conclusion, no matter how implausible. Where is the one place that angels dread to be and would rather face Father’s temper than be?”

“Hell, obviously.” Azrael was intrigued by her always-observant line of thought. Even amongst angels, he was a brilliant one, on par with Samael.

“Yes, but because our brother left Hell and his status behind with it, it is only logical that he doesn’t want to return. Plus, only two living beings have been there and survived. Lucifer wouldn’t risk his one true love in a place that would indubitably kill her. Therefore, she is still on Earth and the only other thing which can hide something from our sight is something unholy for we can’t bear to look upon it.”

“So,” Azrael pressed, moving her hand impatiently for him to give his conclusion. “Where are they?”

“Unhallowed ground or desanctified ground,” he surmised, steepled his hands beneath his chin. “Lucifer is territorial and jealous, he is also highly possessive of what he considers his. He will want every advantage at his fingertips and will want to battle us more with than brawn. He would hide them in a place familiar and comfortable to him.”

“And your point is, brother mine?”

“Azrael, he would hide them somewhere unholy. There are only a few unholy places on Earth that we dread almost as much as Hell itself: Hellmouths.”

“Indeed,” Azrael nodded slowly, seeing the flawless logic of her younger brother’s mind. “Mortals don’t have time to get far given that he most likely knows we’re here.”

“And the armies of Hell following him besides wanting Father’s throne for himself,” Sherlockiel added. “No, he wouldn’t hide the mortals near an active one where they might be in danger. He’d hide them where the ground is still unholy, but like a dormant volcano, quiet and still. There is only one Hellmouth like that on the entire continent and that is Sunnydale.”

“Brother, you are brilliant as always,” Azrael turned her attention to the army of angels standing with flaming shields, shining wings and golden spears. “Go to the dead Hellmouth to the southwest. If the females are there, bring them. As long as they are guests in our custody, Lucifer will hesitate bringing the armies of Hell to the Silver City and we may have a chance to stay this war.”

Bloody sodding hell! There were daft enough to think he wanted to go back to Heaven? Had Azrael hit her head on a meteorite while coming to Earth? If Azrael wanted the throne for herself, then why wasn’t she in Heaven sitting on it? She was trying to stop a war with demons, but she obviously thought Lucifer was the one wanting to start one. 

“Michael warned us that with Father’s absence Lucifer would seek his revenge and we must protect the City at all costs. Only Father must sit upon the throne.” Azrael stated.

Lucifer looked skyward at the stars that weren’t hidden by the artificial light of the Los Angeles skyline, “Father, if you’re listening, I don’t want your bloody throne. I don’t want a sodding war and I don’t want the Universe in chaos because I have this blasted soul. I never asked for my wings back and I never wanted a soul. Is this your way of tormenting me? Of teaching me a lesson? Why would You put Chloe in harm’s way? Since she is one of your most precious creations, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Cocking his head in a very avian gesture, Lucifer studied the scene as Sherlockiel lead a band of angels south to collect Chloe and Trixie. Then, he realized the worst.

They’d kill Mazikeen without a second thought.

He only knew in that moment that it wasn’t Azrael who wanted the throne and she was under the delusion that he did. Feeling divinity surge through him made his feather quiver and gleam with holy light, catching his sister’s attention. “Oh, well. Now or never.”

Lucifer glided down to the rooftop where his sister and several dozen Host stood. As he landed, wings arched, with metallic feathers ready to project at their enemy and golden spears ready to strike dead the fallen angel in front of them. Lucifer said nothing as he drew in his wings, pulled a pack of Morleys from his inside breast pocket and lit one, letting the blue smoke waft around him.

“Azzie, Azzie, Azzie,” Lucifer clucked his tongue in disapproval. “You ought to know well enough I don’t give a damn about Father’s throne and I surely don’t want to return to the Silver City.”

“Lucifer, you have a lot of gall coming here,” her wings unfurled, spread and ready for battle. “Is this how it begins, then?”

“No,” he gather her an incredulous look. “Are you completely mad? I happen to consider Los Angeles my home and the last thing I’d want to do is start a war that caught Humanity in the middle.”

“Did you have anything to do with Father’s disappearance? With your new soul, do you plan on using your newfound power to take over the Silver City?”

“Again, no, little sister,” Lucifer exhaled the blue smoke through his nostrils. “Not my area and not my goal. I just want to live on Earth and be left alone.”

“Are you lying, Lucifer,,twisting your words or hedging in any way?” Azrael asked slowly. “Tell me the truth.”

“I swear on Dad’s name and I can’t believe I’m doing that,” Lucifer said, rolling his eyes. “No, I’m lying, twisting or manipulating any words and I’m not hedging in any way. Plain and simple, little sister, I’m not interested in ruling Heaven or returning there. I just want Chloe, Trixie and Mazikeen safe.”

“You’re telling the truth,” Azrael’s awe was evident by the subtle widening of her eyes and lowering of her wings to a neutral stance. “Then, who is the one who wants to rule Heaven?”

“Who told you that I wanted to rule it in the first place?”

“Michael," she said, the realization feeling like her own blade slicing through her. 

“He told me that a war was coming because I have this accursed soul and that some of our siblings think it's an abomination,” he sneered.

“I think it suits you, but it quite a lot to ingest, even for an angel,” Azrael gave a ghost of a smile. “The former Lord of Hell abandons Hell, takes a vacation on Earth, falls in love with a Human who just so happens to be the Key of Souls. They fall in love and the former Lord of Hell gets his wings back, grows a soul and wants to stop a war just because he’s in Love. Still a romantic, still wearing your heart on your wings and quite the gallant archangel in shining wings. I don’t know what you are, but it is certainly unique and it becomes you.”

“So, you don’t want the throne for yourself, just to make sure?” Lucifer asked, taking a long drag of his Morley.

“No more than you do,” she shook her head. “The bureaucracy alone is tedious. I just prefer to oversee Death in the Universe and keep the balance of life and death in check.”

“So, then it seems Michael is our common enemy then,” Lucifer mused, shaking his head. “I didn’t see that coming.”

“Nor did I and it saddens me greatly,” she agreed. “Sherlockiel deduced where you're keeping your lover and her child-”

“She isn’t my lover, Azzie,” he quickly corrected her, slightly peeved. “She is truly good and I know that because she hasn’t slept with me.”

“Careful, brother, you’re angelic virtue is showing,” she elbowed playfully in the ribs.

“Shut your gob,” he growled, unsuccessful in keeping the grin off his face.

“No, it’s fun to poke fun at big brother,” she gave out a giggle. They stared at one another for a moment, forgetting the gravity of the situation and were just big brother and little sister again, playing along the banks of the Holy River in Silver City. “You’re still an arrogant idiot.”

“And you’re still an uptight rules lawyer,” he retorted. “We need to stop Michael.”

“Where would he be?”

“Allow me,” Lucifer closed his eyes, unfolded his wings to their full width and steepled his hands beneath his chin as if praying. For a moment, he remained still and silent, then abruptly opened his eyes. “He and his army of pissed-off demons are coming in from Cleveland. Fancy a battle to save the universe, Azzie?”

“Oh, by Father, yes!” Azrael gave her brother a knowing grin. “While I’m not fond of war, Death is so lovely this time of year.”

“And one favor, please,” Lucifer asked.

“For the moment because we are allies, I may consider granting one,” she said, looking down her nose at him with a haughty air followed by a wink.

“Make sure your little winged minions leave my favorite demon and vampire unharmed.”

“Mazikeen and Spike?” When Azrael laughed. “It’s impossible for angels to harm or kill them.”

“What?” Lucifer stamped out his cigarette on the asphalt rooftop. “Why?”

“You know that Spike is a Champion of the Light?”

“Since bloody when?” Lucifer said, disbelief apparent on his face. 

“Since May 2003,” Azrael’s matter-of-fact response made Lucifer’s eyes widen further. “He’s one of Daddy’s best.”

“A demon as a champion? Impossible.”

“Not when said champion has a soul.”

"I didn't see that coming," Lucifer’s jaw fell slack. He finally remembered to pull it closed and stared hard at Azrael. “You said ‘them?’ I didn’t hear you tell your flying monkeys to leave Maze unharmed.”

“I didn’t have to,” the corners of her mouth twitched into a sly smile. “Remember that there are two Keys of Souls, not just one. Let’s just say the spare Key had some unexpected effects on your favorite Lillim.”

“You’re joking, right?” Lucifer remember how to speak. Then a big grin spread across his face. “Oh, I have to see this! Maze is going to be royally pissed when she finds out that the spawn made her grow a soul.”

“Trust me, it wasn’t my idea,” Azrael sniffed. “Demons with souls, you turning good. Michael turning power-hungry. The Universe has been turned on its head since Daddy took His galactic road trip.”

TO BE CONTINUED. . .


	13. Angels Know What Is Coming From Way Down Below

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azrael and Lucifer piece together the insidious components of Michael's plan and see the Apocolyptic plan take form. Angels Know What Is Coming From Way Down Below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's title is inspired by the song, "Heaven Knows" by the Pretty Wreckless. This isn't a songfic, but I can see this song being used in the TV series or someone using it in a fan video.

Lucifer took comfort in the rekindling of the sibling rivalry that existed between him and Azrael for thousands of years. They had met on several occasions through the millennia and she was one of the few who called him Lucifer. Out of all his millions of siblings, Amenadiel and Azrael had always been the ones closest to him and his strongest allies.

Now, after three thousand years, they were united once more, hovering above an army of angels with wings unfurled and holy swords drawn. Remembering how to hover in mid-air and remaining still took him a few tries which earned many laughs from his younger sister. However, when one of the youngest angels nearest them chuckled, her eyes gleamed like twin green fires. Where her pale skin had been was replaced by a skull held together by nothing more than will.

The young angel shrank bank and immediately begged forgiveness and she gave him a slow nod. “A little slow on the uptake much, brother mine?”

“Piss off,” Lucifer glared at her as she chuckle how he’d landed on his backside. “This is humiliating enough as it is.”

“Remember who you are, Samael,” Azrael commanded. “You are the Lightbringer.”

“No, I don’t go by that name anymore,” he shook his head, looking upward where his sister hovered over him. “I’m the Devil, Samael or even the Former lord of Hell. I’m not an Archangel or a human. I’m trapped somewhere amidst all that, I’m a being with wings and a soul. I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“You are you’re own person,” Azrael reminded him, landing beside him. “Remember what you told me once how you wanted to be your own person, regarding for the content of your character rather than the shadow of Father hanging over you? Who are you and who will you be?”

“I am Lucifer Morningstar,” a slow nod of understanding came from him. Slowly, his pristine white wings became viable, shimmering with a golden glow. He expanded them to their entire width and flapped them once, taking to the air. With newfound confidence, he hovered beside Azrael and surveyed thousands of angels. No, more than that, he realized. The army consisted of tens of thousands of angels under her command awaiting further orders.

“So, if Michael has his army of demons and devils following him,” Lucifer began. “He’d either have to bring them through an active Hellmouth and the closest one is Cleveland.”

“Or,” Shelockiel joined them. “he’d need to reactivate a dormant one.”

“How could he do that?” Azazel asked. “No angel has the ability to do that. He’d need divine blood.”

“And our little half-brother was the only one who pulled off that one successfully,” Lucifer said the blue-eyed angel. “Sorry, Sherry, but uh…..NO.”

“Divine blood needn’t be from a divine being,” Shelockiel replied swiftly. “It can come from a divine creation. A few drops spilled by a holy weapon on unhallowed ground would be enough for the Hellmouth to break wide open.”

Lucifer’s eyes widened. No, Michael was smart, but he wouldn’t know that Chloe and Trixie were stashed at the remnants of the Sunnydale Hellmouth.

“It must be painful being so ordinary,” Sherlockiel rolled his eyes. “Your thinking is so loud that it’s deafening. Michael is rather dull-witted, but cunning isn’t the same as intellect. He will find your Chloe if he hasn’t already and, most likely, has a way of tracking her. He knew you as well as anyone and he will use your dull, boring predictability against you.”

“He could use his divine abilities to track her, then.” Lucifer countered.

“No. I deduced you hid her at the dormant Hellmouth because you’d want to keep the human and her child unseen. Unhallowed ground is well-known to hide many things from the sight of good. He’d find a way to track her.”

“The dagger,” Lucifer said. “Bloody hell.”

“What dagger?” Azrael asked, seeing the dread in Lucifer’s face make him appear ill.

“When we met, he gave Chloe a dagger and said that she might need it.”

“What did it look like, brother?”

“Not unlike your blade, but the hilt had a different design.”

“Michael’s sword. An angel is always linked to his personal weapon and traceable.”

“Now, you see why I’ve never had one,” Lucifer said.

“All it takes is one good cut to make your human bleed on unhallowed ground,” Shelockiel began.

“And ‘POP’ goes the Hellmouth,” Lucifer finished.

“Essentially,” Sherlockiel agreed. 

“I bet now you wished you had a signature weapon,” Azrael said with a little sadness in her voice.

Lucifer tapped his temple. “I am my signature weapon. Nothing but Dad Himself will save Michael from the visit that we’re about to pay him.”

“Shall we be off?” Azrael asked.

“I need to make a call.”

“A call,” Azrael looked at Lucifer as though he had lost his mind. “Now?”

“Mobile phones can be a weapon in and of themselves,” Lucifer smiled as he dialed Maze’s number.

“Yeah,” came a familiar voice on the line after the phone ran twice.

“Maze, it’s Lucifer.”

“Yeah, I know. I have caller ID,” she sniped. “What’s up?”

“Where are you?”

“At the Hellmouth, where else would we be?”

“Get out of there. Now.” Lucifer commanded.

“Hey, the kid and Decker are sleeping,” Maze protested. “They’re worn out from the stress. Not moving them.”

“Yes you will unless you want to deal with a horde of angry demons coming out of the sodding Hellmouth.” Lucifer’s anger made his eyes gleam red. “Move them now and ditch the dagger she has.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not a dagger, but Michael’s flaming sword. His giving it to Chloe is his way of tracking her.” Lucifer further explained the how the Key of Souls was a divine creation and how both Chloe and Trixie could be manipulated into opening the dormant Hellmouth.

“Got it. On it.” Maze put her phone back in her pocket. Moving with an inhuman swiftness where her feet hovered just a millimeter or two off the ground, she found Chloe and Trixie asleep on an air mattress in the back of the SUV. Silently and gingerly, Maze ghosted her hands over Chloe’s form until she sensed the dagger lodged in its sheath in her under her pillow. 

She gently moved the Detective slight to the left and heard her grumble at the disturbance. Maze slid her hand beneath Chloe and successfully extracted Michael’s dagger from beneath her. Spike sat over by the fire, poking at it with a stick to keep it going while taking a sip of something from a silver flask.

“Michael’s tracking Chloe with this,” she held up the sheathed dagger. “He plans and slicing and dicing of the humans to reopen the Hellmouth.”

“Hey, I died to keep close this thing and it’s not getting reopened on my watch,” Spike huffed.

“This is where we split.” Chloe handed the dagger to him.

“Ah,” Spike grinned. “Clever one you are. I run one way with this mystical GPS thingy while you take the two sleeping beauties the opposite direction.”

“Exactly,” Grave determination showed on Maze’s face.

“Where are you going to go?” Spike asked.

“Better if you didn’t know.”

“In case if they get hold of me,” he concluded.

“Right,” Maze started packing up the camping equipment.

“How much time do we have?”

“I don’t know,” Maze admitted. “But, we need to cover our tracks so Michael doesn’t know we’ve been here.”

""He knows we've been here," Spike replied. "Why bother?"

"True," she agreed.

“Well, Luv,” Spike extended his hand. “It was good seeing you again.”

“Yeah,” Maze shrugged. She walked to the SUV, gently waking Trixie. A minute later, she saw Spike on his Bike ready to ride into the darkness. “Hey, the soul thing works for you. It makes you sexier.”

Unable to see his face because it was covered by the bike helmet’s visor, she saw his leather-gloved hand give her a salute before he rode off into the darkness.

“Come on, Decker! Get up!” Maze’s frustration grew at Chloe’s grogginess. “We have to move.”

TO BE CONTINUED. . . .


	14. Luci in the Sky with Angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armageddon may happen ahead of schedule while the Silver City's fate hangs in the balance. So far, it hasn't been a good day for Lucifer.

Chloe watched Spike speed away in the dark until his motorcycle’s tail light was nothing more than a faint red dot on the horizon. Shivering in the cold night desert air, she gently woke Trixie, lifting the half-asleep little girl from her sleeping bag into the backseat of Maze’s SUV. A strong odor filled the late night air and she inhaled it deeply. She sniffed again, smelling something akin to a thousand lit matches. Hearing a rumble beneath the ground, she returned to the campsite and gathered the last of the camping gear, throwing it in the back of the SUV.

She slid into the passenger side seat, checking her firearm, and glad it was loaded. The rumble grew louder and a hot wind full of sand and ash blew past them like the aftershock of a nuclear explosion. Chloe looked over her shoulder to see the entire landscape behind them set ablaze with a wave of smoke and debris headed toward them.

Chloe promptly fastened her seat belt, watching Trixie abrupt awaken when Maze hit a bump while on the way back to the highway. “Mommy, what’s going on?”

“Monkey, buckle up,” Chloe managed a steady voice, her gaze darting to the spectacle occurring behind them in the back window. An explosion of crimson and orange light erupted from the crater from where they’d camped less than mile. Smoke billowed out of the hole in the ground as a cyclone of fire twisted skyward. The thunder and lightning arcing from the fiery twister illuminated the sky, prompting Chloe to look through the SUV’s moon roof. 

Through the dark clouds lit with fire and light were legions of winged figures flying in formation overhead. While Chloe was hardly a biblical scholar, she knew each legion consisted of 6,000 angels. She remembered her research where she’d read that there were 10,000 times 10,000 which meant one hundred million angels existed. Lucifer said he’d been the one who rebelled, but she knew from Maze’s accounts that others followed. Over 33 million angels had followed him, leaving Heaven with 66 million plus angels ready to rumble.

She saw silhouettes outlined in light as the lightning brightened the cloudy night sky. Some had a singular set of wings while others had two sets or more. Chloe saw multiple fire whirls dancing in the desert in random paths, moving precariously closer to them as they tried to escape.

“Ah, fuck!” Maze slammed her hand on the steering wheel ash the SUV drove on to Highway 101. “Somebody opened the Hellmouth.”

“Gee, you think, Maze?” Chloe snapped watching the Hellmouth turn become a portal for various shadows and winged creatures flying above it.

Trixie turned around, peering over the back of the seat to take in the fire and brimstone explosions. “Oh, cool!”

Maze gave Trixie an approving smirk as she glanced at the little girl via the rearview mirror.

“Starting an apocalypse isn’t cool, Trixie,” Chloe looked over her shoulder at her daughter, then turned her attention to Maze. “So, how do we stop it?”

“That’s not my job, Decker,” Maze shrugged, watching the speedometer pass 80, then 90 miles per hour. “Lucifer said keep you and the kid safe, so that’s the only thing I’m going to do.”

“If the Hellmouth has been reopened, then whatever’s coming out of it is coming after us,” Chloe gave her friend a stern stare. “We can’t outrun it forever.”

Maze then explained how Michael had been the one behind inciting the demons of Hell to bring the final war to Earth because all sides knew the checks and balances of good and evil had been turned upside down because Lucifer Morningstar, former lord of Hell, had grown a soul. God’s absence from the Silver City created a power vacuum needing filled and Michael thought he was the perfect candidate.

“So, how did the Hellmouth open then since neither Trixie nor myself spilled any blood on the Hellmouth?” Chloe asked as they sped north toward Puerto Goleta.

“Don’t know,” Maze muttered, giving a helpless shrug.

“I do,” came a small voice from the back seat.

“Talk, small Human,” Maze growled.

“I wanted to see Mommy’s dagger,” Trixie started. “You’d been showing me how to use the hellblades and I wanted to see what an angel’s knife looked like, too, so when Mommy was sleeping, I sneaked a peak at it. I was practicing with it just like you showed me how to with the Hellblades and I dropped the knife. It cut my hand, but just a little. I put it back and didn’t do anything else, I swear.”

“Shit, we’re in trouble now, kid,” Maze shook her head, glaring at Trixie in the rearview mirror. “You a Key of Souls and your blood is divine. How do I explain to Lucifer that a nine-year-old accidentally opened a Hellmouth?”

“So, you’re saying Trixie did this?” Chloe asked.

“What part did you not understand, Decker?” Maze rolled her eyes in exasperation as she gunned the motor passing a car that was only doing 95 miles per hour. 

“You told me that Lucifer sent us to the Hellmouth because no one would ever think to look for us there,” Chloe began. “Why?”

“It’s unhallowed ground and you can’t see anything holy on unhallowed ground. Anything holy becomes invisible.”

“Okay, so what happens if we go to hallowed ground, Maze?” Chloe cocked her head. "

“You’ll be safe there,” Maze’s brief explanation didn’t satisfy Chloe. 

“Lucifer can enter a church. He said he went once with Ella.”

“Who?” Maze asked.

“You know, the one that annoys the hell out of you on Tribe night because she talks too much,” Chloe elaborated.

“Oh, her,” Maze snorted. “She got Lucifer to go to church with her as a favor owed.”

“I never would’ve seen that one coming,” Chloe smirked in the darkness.

“So, if Lucifer can step on holy ground like a church, how is it going to stop a demon?” Chloe looked in the window behind her, seeing ribbons of fire flaming from ground to clouds, dancing in random paths but appearing to fall further behind.

“Lucifer isn’t a demon, so he can step on hallowed ground,” Maze explained. “Duh.”

“We need a very holy place then,” Chloe said, exhaling deeply. “Get on Highway 5.”

“What? Why?”

<[>For the first time in days, Chloe felt a sense of calm that she had missed in her her life for some time. “Josh has a ranch and an orchard in Vacaville. He said it was like Heaven on Earth and I think it meant it literally, Maze. Trixie and I stayed a weekend up there while he was working on the apartment.”

A slow smile of understanding spread across Maze’s lips. “The ultimate holy ground.”

“Josh makes the rules and nothing can step on there that He doesn’t want there,” Chloe said with newfound certainty. “He can even let a demon pass onto the grounds if he chooses.”

“He’s not going to let a demon into any form of Heaven, Decker,” 

“I wouldn’t be so sure, Maze,” Chloe nodded once. “Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened. The worst that can happen is nothing.”

“You may be on something,” Maze slowly agreed. For the next few hours, the drove faster than the speed limit allowed, always glancing anxiously in the mirror at the road behind them. 

*************’

Lucifer soared alongside his sister, Azrael, toward the Hellmouth with a hundred thousand legions of angels behind them. With wings gleaming, surrounded with an aura of gold was Samael the Lightbringer, flaming red eyes and crimson skull marking him as the Firebringer. To his right was the angel whose feathers were tipped in brilliant green, with her pure white skull holding her stare as two emerald fires burning in her eye sockets. 

It didn’t take long for the army of a thousand legions to meet the throngs of demons flying through the air. Holy Wrath met unholy fire as meteors rained down on the Earth, creating destruction in the battlefield around them. Demons fought the Host with blades forged in Hell which clanged against flaming swords from the divine fires of the Silver City. Lucifer maneuvered about in the skies with his sister who let forth a war cry to send the pitiful creatures back to Hell where they belonged.

Limbs and wings fell to Earth as the skies streamed gold and bled red, the air reeked of acid and ether. The battle raged on into the edge of night and into the first light of morning. The explosions and the spectacle had attracted Humanity’s attention, making them look upward with proof of the profane and divine battling above them. Upon seeing the divinity, many humans went insane. While some committed suicide, other went on murderous rampages. Some became catatonic while others became believers, crying out it was the End of Days and Armageddon. Some found faith.

As he battle waged on, Chloe lingered in Lucifer's thoughts. His only instinct was to destroy the hordes attacking Azrael’s armies and, in doing so, protect Chloe. Chloe was his reason for him battling his brother and stopping the armies he led. Wiping the blood from his brow caused by a random angel’s wing grazing his cheek, he focused his anger solely on the cause of it.

Michael. 

“Dad, I need to ask a favor. I don’t know where You are or what You’re doing, but please, one more miracle for me. Just one and I’m yours all over again however you want me. Protect Chloe. Don't let her be dead.”

TO BE CONTINUED. . . .

 


	15. A Maze's Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Mazikeen Smith, you are welcome in My house,” Josh motioned her forward. “There are lots of room here and I’ve prepared one for you. If it weren’t true, I wouldn’t have invited you. You traveled a long way, that’s the truth and you’re alive. No one gets through those front gates unless I or My Son says so. Don’t let it trouble you, Mazikeen, come on in, break bread and eat with us. Just trust Me a little and everything will be just fine. I won’t let you fall.”

Josh sat on his front porch in his favorite rocking chair, used so much that strips of white paint had come off over the years, showing the bare oak beneath the painted finish. Its soft creaks kept time with the rocking chair moving over the porch boards and mingled with the gentle strums of Josh’s twelve-string guitar as he played and sang. His gravelly voice sang one of his favorite songs, “I Won’t Back Down,” by a famous Southern Artist. 

Mazikeen drove up the ranch’s gravel road as the sun peaked over the eastern horizon before she finally parked in his driveway. Josh didn’t do anything except keep on singing, finishing the last stanza in his deep, drawling voice. Mazikeen shook Chloe’s shoulder, “Decker, wake up. We’re here.”

Chloe snapped awake, seeing the dark had faded into the first gold and rose light of sunrise. “How long was I out?”

“Most of the drive,” Maze said. “You needed the sleep.”

Chloe immediately turned around to check on Trixie, fast asleep in the back seat.

“Don’t worry, Chloe,” Maze ghosted a smile. “That kid sleeps through everything.’

“Good,” Chloe nodded once.

“Now, what?” Maze asked, her eyes darted toward the porch and back to Chloe.

“We talk to Josh and find out what we do next,” Chloe grabbed her purse. “Let Trixie sleep.”

“Uh-uh, no way am I going near Him,” Maze shook her head. “I am not leaving this SUV.”

“Come on up,” a baritone voice called out with a heavy dose of Southern drawl. “Chloe, Mazikeen, come on up and join me.”

Josh rested the guitar by the screen door and rose from the rocking chair. He walked toward the SUV with a big grin on his face and gave them a welcoming motion with his hand. “Come on up, ladies, I got breakfast waiting on the stove.”

“He means you and Trixie,” Maze muttered.

“You, too, Mazikeen,” Josh’s voice rang warm and welcoming in the crisp October morning air “Birds fly, fish have t’ swim and even you, young lady, have to eat. Now, quit quaking in your boots and get up here or food will get cold.”

Maze and Chloe looked toward each other; one with wariness and another with surprise. Chloe slowly smiled and nodded her head toward the front porch. “If He wanted to hurt you, He would’ve done so by now.”

Cautiously, Maze stepped out of the SUV, black leather stiletto boots make indentions in the gravel and crunched beneath her feet as she stepped out and shut her door. She wiped sweaty palms on matching leather pants and tugged her black sheer blouse into place. Chloe looked down at her wrinkled shirt and nervously tucked back a stray strand of hair.

Maze stood still by the SUV, her jaw clenched and eyes narrowed.

“Mazikeen Smith, you are welcome in My house,” Josh motioned her forward. “There are lots of room here and I’ve prepared one for you. If it weren’t true, I wouldn’t have invited you.”

She took one small step forward. 

“You traveled a long way, that’s the truth and you’re alive. No one gets through those front gates unless I or My Son says so. Don’t let it trouble you, Mazikeen, come on in, break bread and eat with us.”

Mazikeen sniffled. “Me, LORD?”

“Yes, you, Mazikeen,” He said quietly. “If you can’t believe My words, then look where you’re standing right now. Trust that. No demon can stand on holy ground unless I make it so and you’re here. Just trust Me a little and everything will be just fine. I won’t let you fall.”

Mazikeen covered her mouth with her hand, trembling as she muffled a sob. “For today?”

“For always, if you want it Mazie,” His smile widened. “You aren’t your mother, you are your own woman responsible for your own actions. A woman’s life is priceless when she risks its for her friends and family. I respect that. I respect you.”

“I don’t understand,” Maze sniffled between sobs. “Why me?”

“You love Chloe and Trixie and you chose to protect them, by doing so, I count your love for them as love for Me,” Josh explained. “Come close, I’m not going to bite.”

Maze took another step forward, her eyes widening, as she wiped away one heavy mascara streak.

“We’re going to have to head out soon,” Josh let forth a heavy sigh. “We don’t have much time, so let’s get some food in us before we go.”

“Come here, Child,” Josh held his arms out to her. “You’re home now.”

Maze ran toward Josh and into His welcoming arms. She wept as he held her close like a father welcoming home His lost daughter. “Thank you.”

“I got you, Mazie,” He promised.

Chloe felt too many particles of dust get in her eyes at that moment, swearing there was a golden light subtly surrounding Mazikeen and Josh. Dabbing at her eyes, she smiled.

“Mommy?” a groggy voice called behind her.

“Good morning, Monkey,” she held out her hand to Trixie. “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I really am,” Trixie said. “Mommy, he’s coming.”

“Who’s coming, Sweetie?”

“Is he going to get us?” Trixie asked in a small voice. “Are we going to die?”

“Who is going to get us?” Chloe pressed gently. “Do you mean Josh?”

“No, the bad man, the one who hides in the shadows, the Sinnerman,” Trixie responded in a hushed voice. “He told me in my dream he’s going to get us all.”

“We’ll see about that,” Josh answered over Maze’s shoulder. “Don’t worry yourself about that, Trixie. Come on in, I have egg sandwiches waiting.”

“Yummy!” Trixie belted from her mom’s grasp, darting toward the Josh’s open arm. Chloe smiled as she watched the trio hug each other tightly. 

************

A few minutes later, they sat down to a table covered in a red and white gingham table cloth with fresh gold and burgundy mums in the middle adorning it. Maze hummed happily as the smell of bacon and sausage, eggs, biscuits and sausage gravy filled her nostrils. She savored every bite of cantaloupe and honey dew that she took, letting the sweetness float on her tongue. The food didn’t taste like anything made by human hands. 

Trixie quickly ate her egg sandwich, then surprised her mother with her ambitious farmhouse reach toward the plate of Belgian waffles, decisively stabbing one with her fork.  
“Trixie, show some manners,” Chloe scolded. 

“Sorry, Mommy,” she said, drenching her waffle in maple syrup. “I'm a growing kid.”

“It’s all good,” Josh said, reaching across the table and spearing one of the waffles much the same way as had Trixie. “We’re all hungry.”

“So, Josh,” Trixie said, never looking up as she cut her waffle into small pieces. “Are you really God?”

“Who do you say I am?” He took a swig of his orange juice.

“Who do You say You are?” Trixie countered, grabbing the squeezable butter and spreading it on the waffle. “Are you or not?”

“Am I what?” He asked.

“Are you God or not?” Trixie stuffed the fluffy deliciousness into her mouth. “Can You just give a straight answer? I prayed to you every night for Mommy and Daddy to get back together and You never answered me. I asked You to get Mommy and Lucifer together and do adult stuff, but they haven’t.”

“Yeah, and you also asked that Teresa Mendez get ran over by a steamroller because she knocked you off the monkey bars,” Josh reminded her as he took a bite of his waffle. “When you wanted your Grandma to come visit for a week when there was a blizzard that stopped all air traffic, I made a twenty-four hour window of good weather so she could come visit you. Just because you ask for something doesn’t mean it gets done. Just because you want it or think you deserve it doesn’t make it happen.”

“So?” Trixie questioned, looking Josh in the eye. “Are you God or not?”

“I AM.”

Trixie didn’t say anything as she saw his eyes turn gold and a halo of golden light surround him. His salt and pepper hair and dark mustache turned brilliant white, causing her eyes to widen. “Okay, You are.”

“Now, that we’ve got that settled,” Josh nodded and the glow dimmed. “Could you please pass me the butter?”

“Yes, Sir,” she said. 

Mazikeen chuckled.


	16. Sky Rider Flies Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I like smoke and lightning  
> Heavy metal thunder  
> Racin' with the wind  
> And the feelin' that I'm under  
> Yeah Darlin' go make it happen  
> Take the world in a love embrace  
> Fire all of your guns at once  
> And explode into space"
> 
> -Steppenwolf, "Born To Be Wild" -1969

After breakfast, the dishes somehow disappeared and were in the cupboards. Josh got on his motorbike and his hair glowed argent white from beneath his helmet. “I’m ready to ride, I haven’t done this for a while."

He, His motorcycle and leathers became a burst of brilliant white-gold like far too bright for either demon or human to view without going blind. He pulled beside the SUV and saw Chloe sitting in the passenger side seat. Gold, flaming eyes stared at her, making her shield her eyes from the glare. His voice echoed and resonated through out the valley where the ranch was located. “No, you and Trixie are staying here.”

“I’m safer following You into battle than staying back here.”

“Trixie needs you,” Josh argued. “This battle isn’t meant for Humans.”

“Gee, I’m not just a mere Human, am I, Josh?” Chloe cast him a disapproving glance. “You made me specifically for the specific purpose of helping redeem Lucifer Morningstar. So, I think I'll do more good on the battlefront rather than hiding behind the lines.”

“Wrong, Chloe,” His glow subsided and she saw the human Josh staring back at her. “I gave you that ability, but it depended upon the choices you and Lucifer made. It wasn’t predestined. You and he fell in love without any help from Me.”

“Then, look at me and tell me the truth,” Chloe challenged. “Since You’re the Almighty, you’ll know. Are Trixie or I going to die today?”

“When I’m in this form, My powers are a bit. . .limited,” He said after a few seconds.

“So, what you’re saying, Josh, is that you don’t know,” Chloe finished for him.

“I’m saying I know all the outcomes even in corporeal form, but in this form I can’t see which one you’ll pick.”

"So, old man, than means You don't have a clue, do You?" Maze was back in full glory.

"Maze, shut up," Chloe elbowed here. "Don't forget what you've been given."

“Woman, you are way too much like your daughter,” Josh grumbled before He resumed his divine glowing.

“Well, lucky for you, I have faith in my Sky Dad,” Chloe shot him a grin. “Put the pedal to the metal, Maze.” 

"So, here we are, sisters of the Tribe. We're ready to ride or die!" Mazikeen let out a loud, high-pitched war whoop that made Chloe cover her ears. 

“Yeah, ride or die!” Trixie echoed from the backseat.

Maze followed the Sky Rider and shook her head twice to clear her vision because she thought she saw Josh’s bike take to the air. Maze shook her head and thought of how she wished Linda were here to cut through Lucifer’s family drama and help everyone get their head out of their asses. She swore she heard "Born To Be Wild" coming from the speakers of Josh's Harley.

“Linda,” she said aloud.

“I just thought of something,” Maze said. Pushing the button on her steering wheel, she gave the verbal command. “Call Amenadiel on cell.”

“Calling Amenadiel on a cell,” the Sync program responded.

 

*************

 

By noon, the battle had raged on with heavy casualties on both sides. Angels became ether as each one was extinguished by a demon blade while demons became piles of burning brimstone dust. Ash and feathers filled the air along with the sickeningly sweet smell of ambrosia that flowed from the angels like wine and the liquid sulfur that was each demon’s life blood.

Quickly, the US. Army and other military branches organized, flanking in the battle on each side, bringing air fire from above. Mortal military weapons stood no match for Heaven’s army and had little affect on the demons. Both sides found Humanity’s intervention an inconvenience with the infernal side simply tossing and driving the mortals into the gaping, smoking Hellmouth. Heaven’s side couldn’t afford to be distracted by scurrying humans who were a nuisance, getting in the way of what was truly important: annihilating the dark hordes led by a dark shadow that all sensed but none saw.

 

Linda sat at home, stunned by what she saw all over the cable channels. Only a few hours from LA was a battle taking place in the middle of the desert that news anchors said appeared without warning and that Homeland Security considered it an invasive attack by a foreign power. Every available military unit had been called and LA was in chaos for fear of the battle moving closer. The National Guard moved into the city, preparing for a mass evacuation, but with such little time, Linda knew it was a futile attempt.

Then, she heard a knock at her door.

“Linda,” an urgent voice called as a loud rap on the door. “It’s Amenadiel.”

She quickly opened the door to see him standing on the porch of her condo in a long, sleeveless gray tunic that came to his knees and loose-flowing pants. She noticed the immense black swings that were a dramatic completion to the entire vision standing in front of her. “Amenadiel, what are doing standing in the hall like that?”

Linda grabbed him by the arm, attempting to pull him into her apartment, but remained firmly planted where he stood. She gave his arm another good yank, but he stared at her in question. “What are you doing, Linda?”

“You don’t want half of LA seeing you like that,” motioning him to step inside. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m getting you out of LA to someplace safe,” he answered. “Pack only the essentials, we’re leaving in 5 minutes.”

“Excuse me, but what about the rest of the innocent people in this city or don’t they count?” Linda asked. “What is going on out there, why is there a huge battle on TV and why did I see Lucifer in the sky?”

“I don’t have time to explain this,” he began. “Now, move.”

“You can’t just boss me around because you have couture wings, Amenadiel, it doesn’t work that way with me,” Linda planted her feet firmly. “You know what’s going on, so, talk.”

“Linda, I’m sorry, but your best friend called in a favor and I owe her. I owe you for lying to you in the past and hurting you. I am here as your friend, your guardian angel and you’re my ward until things are resolved.” Without another word, Amenadiel scooped Linda into is arms,unceremoniously dumping her onto is right shoulder.

“Put me down, Amenadiel,” she yelled, kicking while trying to keep her glasses falling off. 

Amenadiel headed toward the balcony window, opening it with his free hand. He felt a searing pain between his wings and fell to his knees, sending Linda falling over him and landing on her back. Quickly, she scurried to her feet while he lie face down on the hardwood floor.

“I’m sorry I had to do that,” Linda put her knee in the middle of his back. “But, I can’t let you just take me against my will. Try that again and it’s another blow to your to your thoracic vertebrae. Particularly sensitive on angels, if I correctly recall.”

“Where did you learn that?” Amenadiel groaned, remaining still. “Oh, yeah, let me guess, you’re friendly, neighborhood demon BFF?”

“Give the angel a golden halo,” Linda quipped. “It’s amazing what a woman learns when that demon bestie also teaches self-defense on the side. Now, spill it.”

“Let me and I promise to tell you everything, but I promised Maze that I’d watch over you.”

“No taking me anywhere out of here unless I give my permission?” Linda asked cautiously.

“Yes,” he grunted.

“Swear it.”

“I swear,” Amenadiel exhaled. “Now get off me.”

“I didn’t think a human could hurt an angel when Maze taught me that move,” Linda pushed her glasses up her nose while crawling off her friend. “She said that an angel’s thoracic vertebrae between scapulae are as sensitive to you as a man’s balls when kicked. Who knew?”

“It’s not exactly something we mention in polite conversation,” Amenadiel groaned, as he slowly rolled on to his back, cringing in pain. 

“Here,” Linda offered her hand. “Let me help you up.”

“I think you’ve helped me enough for one day, Doctor.”

“Well, I couldn’t just let you kidnap me.”

“Angels don’t kidnap, Linda, we guard,” Amenadiel corrected her. 

“What’s going on?” she asked, more worry in her voice.

Amenadiel caught his breath enough to sit up and lean against the wall. “Dad has decided to take a vacation and no one knows his whereabouts.”

“You’re joking,” Linda’s eyes widened. “Right?”

“No joke,” he replied. “Just like Luci, he took off and left Heaven and His throne empty. Neither Luci or I know where He is, but Maze does.”

“What?” Linda’s jaw went slack. “You’re an angel, but you don’t know where God is and she does?”

“I know, right?” he chuckled, wincing in pain. “Irony.”

“So, what is going on?”

“Dad took a vacation and it turns out that Trixie and Chloe are the Keys of Souls?”

“They're the whatsit?” Linda offered him a hand and helped him to his feet. 

Amenadiel smoothed the wrinkles and dust from his tunic. “Chloe is more that just a blessed child.’

“I know that she was put in Lucifer’s path, but how can she be more?”

“She’s is extraordinary like Isaac or John the Baptist, but, unlike them, she carries a spark of Divine Creation within her,” Amenadiel explained, carefully flexing his feathers to straighten them.  
“So, can she create life out of nothing? Like you Dad?” Linda blinked several times. 

“No, but Chloe can do something more incredible,” Amenadiel’s voice became low and hushed, reverent. “She can create souls.”

“Like the breath of life mentioned in Genesis?” Linda finished.

“No, the soul, Linda, that part part which is eternal. The part which comprises the essence of humanity; the center of many spiritual and emotional experiences. Except, Chloe doesn’t create souls for Humanity, but for the Host, the Fallen and the Infernal.”

“Do you mean for angels?”

“Yes, fallen ones included and even demons, according to Maze.”

“No!” Linda gasped, mouth wide open.

“Yes,” Amenadiel hinted a smile. “That’s why Luci could die, go to Hell and come back from death. No one thought twice about it.”

“However, it makes sense.” Linda nodded in understanding. 

“And Dad decided to make a spare Key.”

“Trixie.”

“Exactly,” Amenadiel confirmed. “Whenever a supernatural being chooses to love and sacrifice of its own volition, a soul forms. Mazikeen grew attached to Trixie, eventually loved her and a soul came out of it.”

“Maze loves you like a sister if that’s possible,” Amenadiel shook his head. “She asked me to keep you safe and I promised her. In doing so, I’m now your guardian angel.”

“What about the one I have?”

“Sent to the front when I arrived,” he nodded. “So, now that I’ve told you, I need to get you out of here so I can put you someplace safe. Then, I’m going to go join Luci and Azrael.”

“No, Amenadiel.”

“You forget, I’m immortal,” he assured her. “If my body is destroyed, I automatically ascend to Heaven. I can’t die like a human.”

“I hope you’re right,” Linda said with more bravado than she felt. 

TO BE CONTINUED . . .


	17. Ride Or Die: Ghost Riders In The Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Let me see,” Chloe said and Maze handed her the field glasses. Chloe gazed at the battlefield, seeing black-winged warriors clashing in mid-air with crimson winged warriors, beautiful and sinister in their appearance with their long flowing hair, burnt features and glowing red eyes. “Holy crap, it’s Armageddon, Maze. You can’t go into that.”
> 
> “This isn’t even playtime compared to Armageddon, Decker,” Maze snorted. “This are kids fighting in the sandbox compared to what’s coming. Armageddon will make this battle look like toddlers fighting over a toy.”

Josh rode on his Indian Scout in His gray leather duster and brain bucket helmet. When He said that He planned setting the road on fire to get to the party, He meant it. Josh’s hair and beard went from salt and pepper to brilliant white. His eyes turned gold and He was engulfed in golden flame. Somehow, the music of Steppenwolf filled the air and the SUV.

“You know,” Maze said, glancing at Decker while following the Great Sky Flier at 120 miles per hour. “He kinda reminds me of that Sam Elliot dude in Ghost Rider, ya know? That’s the movie where the old guy and the younger demon blaze off under the moonlight to be the bigger bad asses. Love that movie.”

“Sorry, I don’t see the resemblance,” Chloe shrugged. “So, now that you’re ‘ensouled,’ what are you going to do?”

“It’s like being told I have cancer,” she made a face. “Except I don’t get cancer. I don’t know, Decker, now that I’ve got this ‘thing’ inside me, does that suddenly make me Mary Fucking Poppins?”

“Hardly,” Chloe nearly snorted hot coffee through her nose as she laughed at Maze’s remark. Demon or human or something in between, Maze certainly hadn’t lost her foul mouth or her wicked sense of humor. “I think that depends on you.”

“So, like, now do I have to go to church and help little old ladies across the street?”

“That’s between you and God, Maze,” Chloe grabbed napkins from the glove compartment to wipe the spilled coffee off her jacket. “Not really my area.”

“Well,” Trixie leaned forward from the backseat until her arms rested on the console between them. “God needs bad-asses, too, you know.”

“What do you mean, small human?” Maze cast Trixie a curious glance in the rear view mirror. “Since when doe God need muscle or bounty hunters?”

“Hmm,” Trixie pursed her lips in serious concentration. “Gideon, Elijah, Samson, David, Yael the Vampire Slayer, Deborah. They were all bad-ass.”

“And when did you know so much about the Old Testament, Trixie?” Chloe asked.

“Since Josh told me stories,” Trixie smiled innocently. “Did you know Paul had a sweet tooth?”

“Hmm,” Chloe nodded, saying nothing. “So, how are we gonna fight legions of demons and not get caught in the crossfire?”

“You’re not fighting demons today,” Maze told Chloe. Trixie started to protest. “Knock it off, kid. Potentials don’t whine.”

“I’m almost ten, I can fight.”

“No, Trix,” Maze said with a gleam in her eyes that Chloe swore was tenderness for the child. Trixie stared at Maze’s reflection in the rear view mirror. Maze’s gaze softened a little more when Trixie frowned in disappointment. “I need you to keep an eye on your Mom and keep her safe. Okay?”

“Okay,” Trixie sounded disappointed. 

“Hey, little tribe sister,” Maze turned around and held out her closed fist. “Knuckles?”

“Knuckles!” They bumped their fists together then drew their thumbs back in a “ride or die” symbolism. “The only reason you’re here, Decker, is because you wouldn’t stay put like the Old Man told you to.”

Maze turned off the lights to the SUV, dug out the binoculars and scouted the flat landscape over a mile away. It was mid-day, but a full moon was out, blood-red and hanging low in the sky. Smoke and fire littered the landscape and large crevasses lay open in the Earth where troops fell into oblivion while more came from a portal hovering in mid-air. “Ah, it reminds me of home.”

“Let me see,” Chloe said and Maze handed her the field glasses. Chloe gazed at the battlefield, seeing black-winged warriors clashing in mid-air with crimson winged warriors, beautiful and sinister in their appearance with their long flowing hair, burnt features and glowing red eyes. “Holy shit, it’s Armageddon, Maze. You can’t go into that.”

“This isn’t even playtime compared to Armageddon, Decker,” Maze snorted. “This is kids fighting in the sandbox compared to what’s coming. Armageddon will make this battle look like toddlers fighting over a toy.”

“Who are the creatures with the red wings?” Chloe handed Maze the binoculars.

“Those, Decker, are bona fide fallen angels,” Maze sneered. “They’re fucking snobs, thinking they’re better than demons because they lived in Heaven at one time.”

“You mean there’s a difference between fallen angels and demons?”

“Well, duh, yeah,” Maze did a face palm. “It’s like this, Demons are natives of Hell, it’s our home. Fallen angels got their asses kicked in the Great War, so Josh decided to kick them out of the Silver City. They wanted to rule, so they tried to take over Hell from Lucifer.”

“Did they win?”

“Not even close,” Maze let out a low laugh. “They didn’t stand a chance. Lucifer always accepted us as we were without judgment or conceit. Them? They thought we were going to be their slave to shit on.”

“So, what happened to them?”

“Lucifer bound them and gave the demons the chance to torment them and throw them into the Lake of Fire. Barbecued wings are tasty!” Maze slacked her lips.

“You ate angel wings?”

“Hell, yeah, it’s a delicacy. You ought to try it some time.”

“Ewww,” Trixie covered her mouth.

“Yeah, probably not your thing, kid,” Maze conceded. “As a matter of fact, now it doesn’t seem so appealing. Actually, it’s gross now that I think about it.”

“Who are the black-winged angels?” Trixie asked, point to the sky where she saw two dark-winged warrior fly parallel to a fallen angel, slicing off its wings in unison with twin flaming swords.

“Those are regular angels, like Amena-” Maze coughed. “Like a-many angels. Tons of them. They’re the wings in the air like you guys have boots on the ground.”

“The soldiers, then, infantry.” Chloe said, seeking clarification. 

“Yup.” Maze confirmed, getting out of the SUV, making her way to the back of the vehicle then lifting the hatch. She pulled out a long black canvas duffel bag about the size of Trixie and unzipped it. She held in hand a long sword with a metal black polished so shiny and black that it reminded Chloe of hematite. Maze held it in her hand, nodding in satisfaction as she twirled it around, reminding the Detective of a famous Warrior Princess from her childhood. 

“You have a battle cry to go with that thing?” Chloe smirked.

“Damned straight, Decker,” she gave Chloe a smirk. “I watch Xena.”

Josh pulled up beside the SUV. “Mazie, I see you got yourself a hellsword.”

“Yes, Sir,” she nodded solemnly. “Is that okay.”

“It takes something from Hell to kill something from Hell,” he said. “It’ll do nicely.”

The hellsword flamed neon blue fire that reminded Chloe something akin to Natural gas, a neon sign and a lightning strike. Josh glanced at the black helmet hanging on the side of his bike. “Come on, Mazie, ride or die.”

She slipped on the helmet and slid onto the bike behind Josh. 

“Chloe said, “You can’t just leave us here,”

“These dufuses are so busy killing each other, they won’t even notice you,” Josh assured her. He took Maze’s keys from her hand. “You’re not going to stay here, Chloe, I want you to head the opposite direction. I let you come to see this because there may be a day that you need to fight and to know what you’ve learned. These are meant for you and Trixie only and the knowledge Mazikeen shared is not to be revealed to anybody. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“They’ve opened up a crevice in the Hellmouth and they’ve contained it. One drop of your blood and it blows wide open.”

“What closes it?”

“Death of an innocent,” he said grimly. “Now, get your tails out of here so that you don’t let the door slam you in the backside.”

“But we’re the Keys of Souls, Josh,” Trixie piped in, not letting it go so easily. “Can’t we do something to help?”

“You already have, Pumpkin,” he tweaked her nose. “You gave your best friend the most powerful thing in the universe: love. That love you gave her she gave back and she has a soul. She doesn’t like to admit it, but she’s changed sides and she on the right side now.”

Maze rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Old Man, you talk too much.”

“Shut your pie hole, yourself, woman, you’re a pain in my backside,” he chuckled. “Let’s ride.”

To Be Continued. . .


End file.
